THE BEAUTIFUL AAYE & HER JEALOUS HUSBAND

Long time ago, there was a man called “Aigboran”. He got married to the most beautiful woman in all the lands, her name was Aaye. He cherished her, he worshiped her like a goddess. News of his wife's beauty spread everywhere, some came to his village just to take a peek at her, because of this Aaye's business was booming. She sells beans like most other women at the village market. She was always the first to go home. But it wasn't enough for Aigboran that his wife came home early, he became jealous because he knew his closest friends had eyes for her

One day, as Aigboran's friends were playing aayo olopon in his absent, Aaye was passing with her calabash of beans, one of them called out  “Aaye, Eewa re nda mi loran..ma ta ewa fun mi, eewa re ni mo f era,se wa taa fun mi?(Aaye, your beauty is mesmerizing me, don’t sell beans for me, its your beauty I want to buy, will you sell it to me?
Aigboran's other friends joined in the jest and refused to pay Aaye, everyone insisted that such beauty was not meant for one man but the woman just carried her calabash and left in tears

Aigboran heard about what transpired between his wife and his colleagues  and became suspicious of his wife, she must have been trying to seduce them he thought

He consulted an herbalist and asked him to put “magun” (thunderbolt) on his wife. The herbalist declined because he knew Aaye was a good woman

Aigboran went to Orunmila, he too declined. Orunmila however consulted Ifa and ensured Aigboran that his wife was not having any extra-marital affair but this was not enough to console his jealous rage

He went to Eshu to ask for his help, Eshu too would not grant him his desire to put "magun" on his wife but he had an alternative for Aigboran

Eshu taught Aigboran how to remove his eyes and pasted it on the calabash of Aaye whenever she was going to sell beans. That was how Aigboran made sure his eyes went with his wife whenever she was not in the house. When she returns, he would remove his eyes from the calabash and put it in his eye balls again. That meant that Aigboran would be blind until his wife return from her trading

One fateful day, a wealthy man who was passing through the market tasted Aaye's beans and loved it, He dicided to buy everything including the calabash

She was glad to sell because the man gave her a huge sum of money. She got home and started counting her money when her husband asked from inside the room

“Aaye mi, Ni bo ni Igba ewa re wa? Mo n wa oju mi o?
(Aaye dear, where is your calabash of beans, am searching for my eyes?”
Aaye gladly and innocently informed the husband that she had sold the calabash together with her beans for large sum
Aigboran began to panic, he screamed on top of his voice as he yelled as Aaye to go and locate the man who bought the calabash. Aaye was confused, she thought her husband would be happy for her

After much screaming, yelling and trying to forcibly make Aaye go look for the man who bought her beans, he realized it was all his fault and started weeping profusely. He narrated to Aaye how he used to remove his eyes to monitor Aaye whenever she was going out to sell. Aaye was not only heart broken but now afraid of her husband. She did not know where to locate the stranger who bought her beans. She ran away from the village and was never seen again


Aigboran returned Orunmila’s house to plead for his sight but Orunmila told Aigboran in simple terms: Ti aba ri Aaye, O leri oju re o”. Airi oju re, lowo Aaye lowa” (if we cannot find Aaye, you can never get your eyes, You cant get your eyes, because its in the power of Aaye)



*Magun (thunderbolt): The Yoruba traditional uses this thing on a woman to detect if the woman is promiscuous. If such woman had been laid with thunderbolt, the man having sexual affair with the woman will die after intercourse