SUMMARY OF CHAPTER NINETEEN OF THE OWL’S MESSAGE BY AUGUSTINE SHEY NSSANG

Nwendo had a stomach malaise and was taken to his bedchamber. After his two wives and servants had

left, the owl appeared to him and delivered his final message: "Nwendo, I put you through this to give

you my final message." Continue ruling your kingdom as well as you are doing now, give sacrifices to

God and pray at your parents' tomb at least once a month. I'm going to die soon, so tell Dr. Ngatu and

persuade him to assist you." Dr. Ngatu's power is only one-tenth that of Nwendo's, but he pledges to be

with him in spirit and to offer sacrifices at his tomb once a month. He also instructs Nwendo to go to

Mbatu and look for a mark resembling the one he used to guide him the way in the past. Nwendo is

unable to believe he will never see the owl again, but he makes sure he obeyed every order the owl

gave him in its last message. Dr. Ngatu died not long after, and his death was a great loss to the Kingdom

of Jenka.

Princess Bonje, Nwendo's second daughter, grew up to be a beautiful lady with many suitors. Her father,

like Emperor Nformi, declared that whoever obtained Bonje would be the victor of a deadly battle, but

none of her suitors were brave enough to register. The only one who was allowed to register was one

vagabond, and the king said that if no other person opts to stand for the battle he will marry her.

However, Mr Lapkinton, a schoolteacher, could not bear the thought of losing Bonje. He was tipsy after

drinking too much wine in the market one evening when he saw Bonje and asked her to talk to him.

Bonje replied that he had already told his father's verdict about the sort of room he wants, but he

wanted to see him die. King Nwendo and Emperor Nformi were very frequent, especially as son and

father-in-law. The princess, Bonje, was about to leave when he decided to drag her into battle with him.

He then raped and strangled her to death before summoning ten of the land's magicians to find the
murderer. However, only four of them pinpointed the murderer, three of them who had received bribes

from him and three who were fake. Nnwendo got a letter from the emperor telling him to come quickly

to obtain help from the doctors in Jigawa. The letter asked if Dr Ngatu or the owl were still alive and if

their soul would rest in peace.

Nwendo, the Emperor of Jigawa, received a letter from his father, Bala, who had died of an incurable

heart attack. Nwendo promised to stand by him in case Bala wanted to set in, and Ndukong became the

next Emperor. Ntalah, one of Nwendo's sisters, had been happily married to one of his father's officials,

two years before his father's death. Three days later, news came to the emperor that Ntalah had been

kidnapped in Mundoni, and Nwendo took action to get her back. His brother-in-law came back two days

later and confirmed the truth, so Nwendo declared war.

Emperor Ndukong declared war on Mundoni after his sister Ntalah was kidnapped in Mundoni. King

Tabe was so frightened that he asked for help from Lassi and Kopnka. Nwendo also joined forces and

attacked Mundoni, defeating them. When Ntalah and her husband were brought back safely to Jigawa,

her husband had been struck down by one of Ndukong's soldiers. Ndokong promised them no peace on

Mundoni until they accepted to join his empire, and they did.

Emperor Nwendo became an emperor and established the Empire of Jenka, which included the Yaje

eriony, the Lassi, Konka and Binka territories. He made Munki the governor of the Lassi territory, while

King Bunyu remained in Kopnka. Queen Yaje was to govern Yaje, and King Taruh was sent to govern the

Binka territory. Ntobo's father was filled with regret, as he had prevented Ntobo from marrying Princess

Ntalah, who was too young to remain a widow. Mr Lapkinton, who had been the school's headmaster,

visited Nwendo's palace often with gifts, but his steps were watched closely for fear that he could do

harm to one o! the princes or princesses.

The king was speaking to his elder wife when he discovered the whereabouts of Muring's daughter, Se-

eh, who had been hidden by a carpenter all these years. Se-eh was about the same size as Samson, the

heir to the Jenka throne, and they even looked like age mates. The truth about her being a princess was

a secret within the carpenter's family, but Nwendo discovered it and proposed to her. They got married

and had fifteen children.

A friend sent one of his children to ask him for nails, but he had no more than fifteen. The friend

grumbled and said he had a right over his own things. The friend then left and the friend thought out

how to get back at the fellow carpenter. He decided to teach him a lesson by harming Se-eh, the

princess' adopted father's daughter. He mentioned this to his wife, but she said he would be harming

her and not her father if he went and reported this to the emperor.

The carpenter has a friend who is keeping a daughter of King Ngabzir as an adopted daughter. The

carpenter sends the friend a summons to come with the girl, but he does not indicate that the emperor

has promised to do them no harm. The next day, the carpenter and the princess appear before the

emperor, trembling. The emperor is excited and embraces the young princess, telling her that God

works in mysterious ways and that her mother was an angel to them. He then gives them some money

and tells them to go and greet their friend for him, and to be ready for marriage on Sunday.

Pastor Tangka gave a sermon on Christian marriage, emphasizing the need for the husband and wife to

cooperate with each other whenever the need arises. He also criticized the practice of refusing to

forgive a spouse for some light offence. His main scripture reading was taken from the Parable of the

Unforgiving Servant, where Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive his brother. Jesus

answered that seventy-seven times is enough, as the Kingdom of Heaven is like this. A king was checking

on his servants' accounts when one of them owed him millions of st pounds.
He ordered the servant to be sold as a slave, but the servant fell on his knees before the king and

begged for mercy. The king forgave him the debt and let him go, but when the other servants saw what

had happened, they went to the king and told him. The king was angry and sent the servant to jail, to be

punished until he paid back the whole amount. Jesus concluded that this is how his Father in Heaven will

treat a servant unless they forgive their brother from the heart.

Pastor Tangka pointed out that despite the need for husband and wife to cooperate, they should not

cooperate on matters contrary to the wishes of God and society. He quoted an incident from the Bible

where a group of believers cooperated with each other, but Ananias kept part of the money for himself

and handed the rest over to the apostles. Peter asked Ananias why he had allowed Satan to take control

of him and make him lie to the Holy Spirit. Ananias and his wife put the Lord's Spirit to the test, resulting

in Ananias' death and his wife's death. Pastor Tangka warned that this fate awaits every couple who

cooperate to do things that will anger the Lord. Nwendo succeeded in locating her brothers and sisters,

who became privileged people within the empire.