The Maiden Nsia
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There were once three brothers who were all in love with the same maiden, Nsia. She was the only daughter of the chief and she was very beautiful. One night, while her father was occupied with his duties in the village, the eldest brother ran to Nsia's hut and hid outside. From beneath her window, he whispered, "Nsia, Nsia. I must see you."
Nsia came to the window. "Who calls me?" she asked.
The eldest brother stood up. "It is I," he said. "Nsia, say you will marry me, and I will approach your father this very night."
"I have known you since we were children," Nsia answered softly. "You have grown in strength and size, but you are not yet a man."
The eldest brother's heart sank in despair. With shoulders slumped and eyes clouded, he turned away from Nsia's window, not even noticing that one of his brothers was running straight past him.
From beneath Nsia's window, the middle brother whispered, "Nsia, Nsia, I must see you."
"Who calls me?" Nsia asked from her window.
The middle brother stood up. "It is I," he said. "Nsia, say you will marry me, and I will approach your father this very night."
"I have known you since we were children," Nsia again replied. "You have grown in strength and size, but you are not yet a man."
The middle brother, devastated by such a cruel blow, could not raise his eyes from the ground and, therefore, could not see that his youngest brother was fast approaching.
"Nsia, Nsia, I must see you," whispered the youngest brother. "Is that you?" asked Nsia, who was not surprised to see the youngest brother standing tall against the moonlight.
The youngest brother spoke, "Nsia, say you will marry me, and I will approach your father this very night."
Nsia gave the same reply she had given to the older brothers. Then she added, "Gather your brothers and meet me at the creek tomorrow morning. There is something I must say to all three of you."
The youngest brother rushed back home and roused his brothers from their tear-filled sleep. At the news of Nsia's requested meeting, the brothers sighed in relief. Maybe Nsia had changed her mind.
At dawn, the brothers hurried down to the creek, where Nsia was waiting for them.
"I have no way of knowing which one of you loves me most," she told them. "Go out into the world and bring me back a souvenir of your travels. Whoever finds for me the greatest treasure is the one I shall marry."
The three brothers decided to waste no time and set out immediately on their journey. For three days and three nights they traveled across the land. Just as they finished crossing a large river, they could see a fork in the road ahead. It was time, they realized, to go their separate ways. The eldest took the road to the left, the second brother took the road in the middle, and the youngest brother took the road to the right. Before leaving, they hugged one another tightly and agreed that in exactly one year's time they would come back to this same spot. They would then determine which brother had uncovered the treasure that could claim the love of Nsia.
The year passed very quickly. The brothers were learning new ways and meeting new people. They had little time to daydream about their beloved Nsia. Nevertheless, when the year's time was up, the brothers did not delay their travels a moment longer. Each hastened back to the spot along the river.
The eldest was the first to arrive. No sooner did he take a seat on the ground than he saw the youngest brother approaching. After greeting his brother, the eldest asked, "What have you found in your travels?"
The youngest brother pulled from his pocket a mirror. "It is all I have found in a year's time," he said sadly. "But it has power. If you look into it, you can see far and wide, all over the land."
The second brother then arrived and pulled from his satchel a cloak. "It is all I have," he said reluctantly, "but it is powerful. I need only drape this cloak across my shoulders, and I am transported to any spot in the country."
The eldest then showed his souvenir—a cow's tail. "I, too, have found very little, but this cow's tail is powerful medicine. I need only pass this cow's tail across people who are ill, and they are brought back to health instantly." The three brothers sat down in despair, for they did not think any of their gifts were worthy of the love of Nsia.
The youngest brother, hoping to brighten their spirits, said to them, "Let us look in the mirror to see what is happening in our village. Let us get a glimpse of Nsia."
The three crowded around the mirror and saw that a funeral was in progress. "Who could have died?" they asked one another. The chief of the village was weeping, and a body had been laid out in an open verandah. "Who could have died?" again they asked. "And where is Nsia?"
The chief then pulled back a white cloth that covered the face of the dead person. It was the face of Nsia!
"Our Nsia is dead!" the brothers cried. The eldest declared, "We must set out for the village at once and bury our maiden." But the middle brother said, "There is no time to walk. Nsia will be buried within the day and we will never again see her face. Brothers, hold fast to my cloak and do not let go." Almost at once they were in their village, standing beside their beloved Nsia.
As the pallbearers came to take her to the cemetery, the eldest brother pulled out the cow's tail from his satchel. He waved it across the girl's body, saying "Nsia, awake! Awake!"
And, lo and behold, the maiden arose!
The village rejoiced for three days and three nights. Afterward, the three brothers came to Nsia, saying,"We have journeyed across the land and brought you back a souvenir from our travels. Now you must choose. Which one of us had uncovered the greatest treasure?"
^ Back to TopAbout the Author:
"The Maiden Nsia" is told by Mariana Bornholdt (Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana, 1987–1989). "There are no right or wrong answers to this tale," says Mariana Bornholdt, who worked as a teacher in a secondary school. "Some groups conclude that a further task needs to be put to the young men."