You must not bathe this child for 15 years. If you do, something terrible will happen. But if you don’t, the child will become yours forever.”
“I will never bathe her. I promise. I promise. Thank you. Thank you.”
That was the promise she made. But as the child grew, problems grew with her.
Children her age began to run away from her. Villagers covered their noses whenever she passed. They mocked her because she had not bathed for years and smelled very bad.
Each time she came home crying and begged her mother, Aduke, to bathe her, Aduke would hold her tightly and lie to her. She would say, “It is not normal for a human being to bathe.” She would tell her that the people she saw bathing would die quickly, “But if you do not bathe, you will live long.”
Aduke would also lie and tell her that she herself had never bathed since she was born.
But the truth was different.
Whenever Aduke wanted to bathe, she would hide where her child could not see her. She would quickly pour water over her body in secret.
Everything continued like this until the day everything changed.
One night, the child saw her mother bathing secretly. Her heart broke. The lies, the shame, the pain. So the following day, without telling anyone, the child carried soap and a sponge. She went deep into the forest, and what happened next was very, very shocking.
Aduke sat alone in the forest crying.
Why?