CHAPTER ONE
Among the kingdoms of Uluru lived a generous king called Mustapha. This king was blind from the womb of his mother, queen Amana. No one knew any medicine man that could treat Mustapha. All the medicine men and Magicians from the Arab regions were hired by queen Amana and her husband, king Duggan. But none of these great spiritual men were able to make Mustapha see with his eyes, but there was a man they didn't seek his help, the wizard of Uluru. So the boy lived blind. However, his parents took him to the most prestigious school for his education. And soon he went to a great Arabic school in the North where he bagged a qualification in philosophy. This prepared Mustapha for his future role. His father, king Duggan died soon after Mustapha's graduation.
So he became the heir apparent to the throne. He was crowned the king of Duse Karen in Uluru land as soon as he was inducted. King Mustapha was loved by his people because he was selfless. He was so kind that his opponents said he was too generous to a fault. He could give anything out to whoever needed his help without strings being attached. Commoners also drank from the same cup with him. Previously, the royal cup was a reserve for the kings and nobles. It bore a royal symbol of the authority of the kings nobles before and present, and was also used as a symbol of unity.
This serving of commoners with this royal cup demonstrated that all men are equal, and according to Mustapha, divisions were created unnecessarily. For example, all men were buried in like manner of being folded in marts, cloth or coffin and then thrown into the grave. The same white cloth was used to wrap them whether rich or poor, before being folded in any manner for this journey. Again all men are born naked, empty handed and faced the same manner of life. Mustapha always said that being privileged was a luck granted by Allah for the need of man to help other men or people. There were many riddles of life that Mustapha handled, one of which was the banning of the manner with which those with leprosy were treated as outcasts. So every person was his brother's keeper. This brought him closer to the hearts of his people.
When the King's mother died, shortly after his enthronement, his opponents started to raise dust against him. They kicked and kicked against his kingship because he was blind. "The kingdom has never been ruled by a blind man before," Said Indris, chairman of the palace chiefs.
"How can we be led by a blind man? He can't see the faces of his chiefs. We just speak and he listens to us, people he can't see. Other kingdoms laugh at us that we are led by a blind man, Allah forbids," said the captain of the palace army, Barbuda. Soon they conspired to dethrone King Mustapha. Being the leading forces in the palace they sought supports from the king makers, bribed them and made them to have unfathomable hatred for the king.
But the king didn't know that his cabinet members were planning to remove him from the throne. He loved them all. He shared to them even the parts of his wealth and lands for their commercial farming. But in spite of this kindness they hated him for not just reason other than the fact that he was blind.
But among these royal traitors was a man of valor who didn't agree with the other chiefs in their plot against King Mustapha. He was a man from a humble background, Barbara. His mother Kuaka was the chief maiden to the king's mother. She had left the palace before the death of queen Amana. So to thank her for the good service she had rendered to the queen and to the palace, for the the queen had also employed her son, Barbara as the king's adviser on cultural and war matters. This was the role his father was playing before he was killed by his worst enemy, Isa. His mother Kuaka was employed after her husband died. She guarded the mother queen during her reign. So queen Amana felt her son, Mustapha would also have him hinging beside him in order to tap from the stock of knowledge bestowed upon his parents for they were good people.
The king's wife was also bought over by these enemies of the king. She wasn't really in love with the king. So she became a cog in the wheel of his progress. She openly challenged her husband in the palace. Sometimes she jested with his blindness. She used such words that could provoke the king but king Mustapha was so humble that he only smiled at those smears. Menem was so proud that she was always arrogant to everybody in the palace. She could sack any servant without recourse to a second thought. However, she was in good terms with the opponents of her husband, the palace chiefs, that she questioned her husband in certain matters and how he handled the cases before him, mostly when these palace chiefs weren't in favor. Menem's beauty was said to be generously offered to her by Allah.
Her pale brown completion glinted like polished gold. She smiled so often but not to her husband. Her tallness was an advantage. It made her to stand above most women of her class and age. Her shape was said to be moderate, but a little fattening could make her look enormous. Her mother was said to be huge and so beautiful that her friends envied her. Menem took after her mother in beauty, and took after her father in height.
So Barbara pitied the king. He met his mother Kuaka, and told her how the king was treated in the palace. But the woman didn't utter a word. This didn't please Barbara. He met his mother again in the following day and sat beside her. He stared into her eyes and found that she wasn't at her good mood. She was staring into the empty space and a stream of thought was intruding in her mind. She knew the secret. She knew why the king was born blind. She knew when queen Amana his mother was crying for a son, who would inherent the throne of the king. There was a great competition in the land that many candidates were interested to become the next king if her husband couldn't present a child for the throne. The custom of Uluru land didn't make kingship absolute hereditary. When a king had no male child to run the kingdom after his own rule, the throne was declared open and vacant for interested candidates to contest.
So, Barbara wondered why Kuaka was worried. Or was she afraid that he was getting himself into concern with the matter which ordinarily shouldn't worry him. "I am sorry mother. I will mind my business next time," Barbara said. He held his mother on the shoulder drawing her attention to him. She turned to him "What is it?" she asked. "I wouldn't border you again with matters in the palace," said Barbara.
"My son, you have asked me several questions concerning the kingdom, custom, palace secrets and others. I have honestly answered your questions because I swore to do so. But now you are making me to think otherwise. There is a secret I couldn't tell you. You had asked me if the king was born blind," said his mother.
"Yes mother, because he doesn't look like he was born blind."
"The fact is that he is blind."
"Mother it is hard for one to believe that king Mustapha was born blind, because his eyes are so clear and controlled like any other person."
"Every person knows that he is blind, even all the kingdom of Uluru. And here in Duse, who doesn't know that the king was born blind."
"Mother," Barbara called "I heard the queen say she wished she could reverse the curse that was shortly before her death."
"The queen said so?"
"Yes mother, shortly before she gave up."
"Said to the king?"
"Yes mother."
Kuaka stood up and walked towards her kitchen. She was deeply in thought. She recalled how the queen was grieving up to her death. She sat beside her kitchen's door post and began to narrate the incident to her inquisitive son. "It all started when the queen was desperate for a child. She had visited a wizard called Mogul. This wizard was said to be a bridge between the living and the ghost. There was a land of the ghosts, the abyss of Souls. Here it was said that those who died prematurely were to live again in this land until it was time for them to die. This was believed in all lands and kingdoms, that no one doubted it. Why was it so? The wizard who connected with the ghost world was able to change situations. Some of which were strange and unbelievable in nature. He possessed wonderful powers to deal with the spirit world and seek remedy for human conditions in the human land. I was with the queen then. She was crying every day and night. So, one day I met her in her room. We were alone. I spoke to her concerning this wizard who could solve her problem if she so wished," said Kuaka.
"You mother have the knowledge of a wizard?" asked Barbara, surprised that his mother had knowledge of the notorious wizard of Uluru. Any Muslim faithful who had contact with this wizard was despised.
"I mean you took her to meet the wizard?" he asked and looked at her and shook his head unbelievably.
"Most people believed that the wizard was a ghost himself, but he had used his power to assume existential life like humans.
So the queen agreed to meet the wizard for a child because she was desperate." Her face blushed for a while. She held her hair into position and continued. "We secretly left the palace to meet Mogul, this consulting wizard. The queen cried for his help. She begged that Mogul should give her a child. That was the beginning of her sorrow. The first child came and died shortly after her birth. The second came and followed the first. Then a boy came and shortly too followed the other girls. The queen became enchanted that she took me back to meet Mogul. She said she deserved to die if she couldn't bear a living child for the king," Kuaka said and clinched her lips. "The queen was so despaired," said Barbara.
"Mogul wasn't pleased. He told the queen unless she undertook a journey to the land of the ghosts."
"Did he say the Land of the ghosts?"
"Yes, the wizard gave her seven keys to this world of the dead."
"Seven keys?" asked a bemused Barbara.
"The first key to cross the river was called Gaga, meaning the boundary."
"That's between the living and the dead?"
"Yes. The second key is a command, Sumba. This brings the ferry boat paddled by invisible hands."
"What?"
"The third is Amine pointing at the direction of our choice, of course, as instructed by Mogul, we pointed left. This took us through the creek until we saw the symbol of the fourth key, the nest of bats. This big tree with fluttering branches was their abode. On it were thousands of bats. When we got there we said the fifth key, the budge tree. Then the tree opened its torso for us and we entered until we walked to the land. Then we saw three spirit warriors. And when the three warriors of the kingdom came to us with their rapier swords we shouted, Zakat!" said Kuaka and waved her head to assent to this oddest journey. "You saw them with your naked eyes?" asked Barbara. "Yes. They were as short as babies, like demons of the Imps with bushy hair, bulbous body and as black as charcoal, shorter than babies. Their faces were clouded with fury," said Kuaka. "My God!" exclaimed Barbara.
"So, we were led to meet Zakat the king of the ghost. Then we had forgotten the seventh key. This angered Zakat. We were locked up in the jail to be released the next day and be slaughtered and eaten by the ghosts. But before the daybreak we remembered the seventh key, Lives," Kuaka said and cleared her croaking throat. She looked worried and fatigue. Her eyes blinked for justice.
"So the queen was allowed to air her need. Zakat was moved by the queen's complaint that he accepted to give the queen a male child on the condition that the child would be blind for the rest of his live. The queen agreed with tears in her eyes. We then returned to the palace in the mid night," said Kuaka and stared into the empty sky again. "What about the king, did he know about the journey?" asked Barbara. "Before we left for the journey a portion was given to the king to lay in his sleep until we returned. The queen fanned him awake as soon as we came back. He didn't know anything about our journey to the land of the ghost until he died shortly after Mustapha was educated."
"The queen was wicked," said Barbara.
"What could a desperate wife do? She wanted to get him a child. But there was an extra condition which the queen didn't want to execute. She was afraid to let the boy know of his source of life and blindness."
"You said condition?" asked Barbara to retract his mother's attention from the point she had refrained.
"Yes. He could see if the condition is met. Zakat promised that he could see for a while if he is invited with a sacrifice in the king's secret room with the blood of a ram in a bowl."
"Just like that?" asked Barbara feeling triumphantly.
"No. At the end of the period given to the king to see Zakat would appear on his own. Three virgins would then be taken away by him to the land of the ghosts."
"The virgins would be taken away alive?"
"Yes. Similar disappearances of virgins are common in this land of Uluru. They would be searched for and forgotten in time. These days parents caution their careless daughters."
"That's bad, mother."
"That's the pattern of life here. And the chiefs and the medicine men knew that human sacrifices were made. Even the king's enthronement required sacrifices, and only them know how and what, it isn't made public to the commoners. Soon you will understand the full secret of the palace," said Kuaka.
Barbara removed his turban and flapped it to its length and started to refold it on his head again. His eyes went though and unsettled. He remained engaged to this task until he heard the sound of trumpet from the palace. He stood up and bowed to his mother. "Go quick, the king will need your service," she said to him. Barbara mounted on his horse and rode. He picked the sword from its sheath lunging it into the air.
Before he could reach the palace the king was nowhere to be found. The chiefs had kidnapped the king to be killed. He could see that there was massacre of the palace army by the bandits hired by the chiefs and the trumpeters were panicking with a handful of the soldiers around to guard the palace while others had gone after the intruders. The king was therefore taken away like a helpless goat because he was blind; whose adversaries were his palace chiefs. Barbara pursued them until he met them on the road killing the palace soldiers that had gone to free the king, for they were stronger and skillful. He knew that they couldn't kill the king in the palace because it was a taboo to do so.
A king was expected to be taken on exile. He would live and die there in exile as a slave. It would be said that the king was missing like those virgins used for sacrifices, but their intention was to kill him, outright killing so that nothing could be reversed, for where afraid of Kuaka the wizard and her son, Barbara who was so skillful with the swords. However he fought and fought the bandits and saved the king. He mounted the fainted king on the horse and drove him back to the palace. He assembled the remaining soldiers and assigned them to guard the king while he went after the chiefs and killed them one after the other. The captain of the palace, Barbuda after giving a hard fight and chase was subdued and killed by Barbara.
CHAPTER TWO
King Mustapha was happy. He promoted Barbara to the rank of the captain of the palace and the warrior of Duse. All the kings of the Uluru land assembled in his palace to show their solidarity and to honor Barbara for rescuing king Mustapha from the hands of the bandits whom the disgruntled chiefs hired to dethrone him. But the queen's way about wasn't known, she was being kidnapped and taken away and no one knew where she was taken to, so soldiers were sent across Uluru land in search of her.
"He shall hence forth be the captain of this palace. And his title shall be conferred upon him as the Magahi, chairman of all the affairs of the palace," said the king.
"Magahi!" shouted the king's praise singer. The drummer started to hit their drums and dancers took the space and the environment was engulfed with joy. So after this event Barbara met the king and told him everything he heard from his mother. The king was worried that he summoned Kuaka to hear from her.
"Kuaka, is it truth that I can still regain my sight even for a day?" asked the king. "Yes, you can," replied the old woman.
"May Allah show you mercy and favor if so is granted unto me," said the surprised king.
The king after confirming this secret from Kuaka ordered that Kuaka should be relocated to the palace with immediate effect and given a befitting honor as the mother of the palace. This pleased Kuaka that she arranged for the sacrifice for the king to regain his sight, but this wasn't without trouble.
So, Mogul, the wizard of Uluru appeared in the palace to kill the king but Barbara pulled the king into defense. And Kuaka wasn't happy with this action.
"I warned you Kuaka. I said to you that your son shouldn't be allowed into the service of the palace. But you went ahead to let him here," said the wizard.
"Mogul, the boy's fate is with Allah," said Kuaka.
"I Mogul decide the fate of everyone in this land. His father Hauula was killed by me because he defiled my order. His son has grown again to follow the footsteps of his father; I shall also be his greatest enemy. Didn't you warn him?" said the wizard angrily.
"You evil man, I have waited until this day to avenge the death of my husband Hauula, whom you envied because of his power against evil ones like you. My son will kill you to avenge his father. He is Barbara, trusted from the childhood the power of Yakama, to kill witches and wizards like you," said Kuaka and drew Barbara and the king to herself and back. She picked a charm in the form of black trinket and folded it around the neck of her son.
"Barbara my son, this is your inheritance, witch hunter, wizard killer. Avenge! Avenge! Oh son of Uluru!" she shouted. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" shouted the wizard and turned to face Barbara. "Barbara, I have the power above the charm of Yakama. I speak to the ghosts and the power of the sky, the river goddess, the thunderous power of Korana. I turn the sky to rain and swerve the entire forest of Uluru. They tumble for my terrifying ordinance and rituals. Who are you in Uluru to kill Mogul the death? Whoever shall kill the death shall first kill the sleep in him that is Mogul, king of the wizards. Let me have that magic power on your neck or I shall kill the king. I thought that he should remain blind. I pitied his mother, and gave her a blind son through Zakat. I deceived her. I killed all the children I gave her because the kingdom is mine. I want to be the king, so I gave her a blind son. I planted in the palace chiefs to dethrone him and take him to a far land on exile, there he should stay for the rest of his life or yes, the chiefs wanted him dead, but I wanted him to grope in a dark prison with his blindness. But now you see I shall kill him with my own hand. The queen is mine. I have taken her back," the wizard boasted. "I also planted her in his life, she is mine!" said Mogul.
"You are a liar!" shouted Kuaka.
"So, you took the queen also. You will pay for this," threatened Barbara. The king was terrified that he fumbled on his stand to shift and fall. Barbara held him back and Kuaka hid him.
"Draw your sword Barbara!" shouted Kuaka.
Just before Barbara drew his sword, Mogul struck but Barbara dodged his spinning hilt.
"Vengeance!" shouted Kuaka again.
The wizard ran out and flew up into the sky.
"Strike the sword to the earth!" shouted Kuaka furiously. The palace guards immediately ran out to seize Mogul. The Wizard's dexterity and power made him indomitable. He swiftly struck thirty of them down and made to kill the king. Kuaka shouted again!
"Barbara uses your amulet. Pull it to the right hand and speak your wish,"
"Give it to me!" shouted Mogul with threat. It was a spell unto Barbara. Barbara drifted heavily towards him to hand over the charm to Mogul. But Kuaka intervened in time; she took the sword from Barbara and struck the wizard but missed. "Don't kill my mother. Take it," cried Barbara as Kuaka was on his bond magically. The wizard obeyed, let go Kuaka and moved to collect the charm. Barbara propelled him into the air acrobatically and landed beside his mother. His hand twisted on his sword, quickly and he struck at Mogul with anger. "Die Mogul!" he said as he picked the charm to his mouth and at the same time screwing into the Wizard's heart. The Wizard fell. Barbara met him and cut his head off. Immediately Barbara mounted on his horse in search of the queen. And when he got to the Wizard chamber, the queen was not there. He started to shout her name.
"Queen Menem!" But there was no answer from the queen. Just then he saw a horse at a distance riding in exceeding speed. Barbara flogged his white horse after it and soon overtook it. To his surprise the captor was a monster. His hair was so bushy. His moustache dropped down towards his shoulders. His set of teeth was over grown like the tusk of an elephant. His fingers like the claws of a lion. His eyes were as red as that of a mad cat. His size four times more than a furious wrestler. His voice echoed brashly with hostility. His belly dropped beside his black horse which was equally violent. He had the fur or hairy skin of an animal across his waist. And in his hand was a long rapier sword which was so big that three brawny men would not be able to lift. "Let her go," shouted Barbara. "Who are you young man?" asked the bulbous giant. "I am Barbara, the son of Hauula. I say drop the queen," said Barbara.
"I will kill you. Keep off from my way!" shouted the giant and flung his mighty knife in anger towards Barbara, but Barbara dodged it. The howling was more devastating than the threat. Barbara cupped his ear as the giant's howling echoed fiercely. The queen was tied and she was weak and faint. Barbara took his fighting rope and swung it dexterously towards the giant, it caught his head. He flung the rope towards himself and the giant fell. The horse turned running back with the queen to the wizard's castle.
However, Barbara engaged the giant in a duel, it was dirty and breathe taking but Barbara killed him at last. He was tired, but luckily the palace army came to his recue. "We have as well rescued the queen and taken her to the palace. She is receiving attention in the palace. She said we should come to help you," said the chief guard. "Who is this giant?" asked Barbara "No one knows him; He may be one of the rivals of Mogul. The queen said he broke into the wizard's chamber and shouted against Mogul and when he couldn't find him she was kidnapped," replied the newly appointed chief guard.
CHAPTER THREE
Kuaka poured the blood of the seven rams prescribed for the ritual into a special bowl. King Mustapha immersed his face into it and instantly he regained his sight. For the first time he could see the face of his beautiful wife, Menem. She knelt down and apologized to the king concerning her foolishness. And the king forgave her and both of them were happy for having survived the wave between them. Other kings in the land came to show their solidarity and loyalty to his reign. They came with dancing troupes, camel riders, horse riders and their warriors. But then that was for a while, soon the king would lose his sight again. This fear deepened the thought of Kuaka and her son Barbara that they weren't happy at the fullness of their hearts. Kuaka who had practiced and mastered sorcery which her husband had thought her decided to devote her entire time to study the magic book of Guyana.
This book of Guyana was inherited by ancient lineages of Uluru, who practiced witchcraft. But her husband had used the same power to fight against evil in the land and that was what endeared him to be employed by the king, Mustapha's father. So Kuaka researched day and night burning her torch light into magical secrets and soon she had gathered some facts. But she kept them to herself and rehearsed the process every day and night until she mastered the exotericism.
One day after two years of the king's regaining of his sight, he became worried because his sight was hired for two years only. According to the concession granted to him by the sacrifice, he would have to offer to the ghosts' seven virgins who would be taken by the Zakat, the king of the ghosts to the ferry world. That was for the period he used the borrowed eyes before he would give them back to the ghosts and become blind again. And if he failed to oblige to this requirement he would be killed by Zakat. These options were throbbing in his head. So the king called for Kuaka and her son Barbara into his palace. They became apprehensive of what the king would say to them. Kuaka had noticed that for the past few days that king Mustapha was feeling worried. Even the queen was afraid. But the king refused to open his mind to even the queen concerning his haunting thoughts.
"I called both of you for a purpose. I am happy that I can see with my eyes, my beautiful wife. At least I have seen the good ones like you with my sight, not those that plotted against me and the kingdom. Yes, I am indeed happy. But then my sight doesn't worth the blood of any of by subjects in this kingdom or any in this land of Uluru. Therefore I prefer to die now instead of passing seven virgins to the ghosts. My wife, queen Menem is happy and pregnant. Do I not compare her happiness to those mothers that I would deny them the joy of their motherhood if I seize their daughters because I needed a sight? I rather die. Barbara!" he called, that was after this sorrowful narration of his and there was a fathomable silence. "Yes, your highness," Barbara answered and bowed in loyalty. "Take care of the queen. If her baby is eventually a baby girl, name her after my own mother Amine, and if a boy name him after my own father," said the king with courage. Barbara could read how brave the king's face shone, it was splendorous. "Ha!" exclaimed Kuaka. She flinched on her seat and smiled. "Your reign shall be long my king, it will surpass the reign of your father," said Kuaka. The king was jittered and even Barbara wondered why his mother should address the king in that manner which to him sounded like a mockery.
"You won't die as long as Allah lives, my King," she said again. This time her voice was deemed earnestly with her eyes staring up to the roof of the palace. "The king of the ghosts will come for the recovering of their eyes which we have borrowed from them, but then in addition, he will also go with seven virgins to be taken to Laguna, the land of the ghosts, abyss of souls, to be slaughtered for sacrifice, which in turn sustains the power of Zakat," she revealed to the king's dismay. And she continued.
"Very soon he would come for this bargain of the devil and then the kingdom will witness yet another sorrow. This will have a recurrence in this land as it had always been here in Uluru. But then something has to be done and urgently too to abate this evil entanglement," said Kuaka and stared at king Mustapha. "Ha! Kuaka, how can we crack jokes with the ghosts?" asked the king. "Not a joke, my king," said Kuaka.
"Tell me Kuaka, the mother of my palace, do I even have a sorcerer in this palace? And then if I haven't got any except Barbara's brevity and wisdom, tell me how can I face and challenge the power of the ghosts?" asked the king again and his face clouded with fears. "You wouldn't die like a goat. Nor will you lose your eyes. Nor would any virgin die again in your kingdom," said Kuaka. "Amen!," said King Mustapha. "Mother, you speak like a strange woman?" Barbara whispered to his mother's ear. "My king," called Kuaka and produced a small magical book from her inner wear. The book looked centuries, tattered and relict. She stretched it forward to the king. "Here is a secret magic book; it is an antidote to evil sorceries and exposes the wicked powers of the ghosts. When Zakat comes he will need a cup of water to keep his breath like humans. Again to beat a ghost, lies are the greatest weapon. So, what is required is to form an absolute lie which would deprive him of his quest for water. That would be his utmost need when he comes for his pound of flesh. We would use this as our power to counter him. Then he would be powerless and melt or transform into an animal and walk away into the forest, and never to return," narrated Kuaka seriously.
Barbara was shock, but he didn't doubt his mother because she had shown and demonstrated her knowledge of mystic powers. Even the king was relieved by her words which were so convincing, for it was said that sorcerers used lies to pacify their gods and ghosts, but how could they diverse an absolute lie to hold the king of the ghosts in bondage if it was lie that could destroy him?
CHAPTER FOUR
The king hired the wisest men across the land of Uluru. He informed them his need and promised to reward who ever could fabricate convincingly an absolute lie that would hold Zakat in slavish bond. But the wise men couldn't reach any consensus. This didn't please the king. Kuaka wasn't able to diverse one. Barbara was as helpless as the king. He hadn't lied before. He found it difficult to lie. But in his heart the instinct in him was creating a need for him to lie if he could do so to save the king and the kingdom from the impending calamity. Kuaka was also trying many options in her mind thought to avert the disaster that would soon happen to the kingdom. "May Allah in his mercy show to us the secret and forgive us," Kuaka had prayed, for it was awful to lie, but in the circumstance of the king and the kingdom, if lying was the antidote to shun the devil and destroy him, Kuaka thought that it was a necessary one.
Before a month, Zakat appeared in the palace to recover the borrowed eyes from the king and seven virgins as a payment for his generosity to the king. And if the virgins were refused, the king would be killed for the breach of the bargain. But then the king had decided to die instead of offering seven virgins. Even Kuaka had started to mourn inside her heart. The queen was now aware of the fate that awaited her husband. She cried and cried on a daily basis. Her mind daunted her so greatly that her condition deteriorated.
"Where are my virgins?" Zakat asked.
"You shall go with your virgins soon," assured Kuaka.
"Be quick, for I am in a hurry," said the king of the ghost.
Every one among the three, the king, Barbara and Kuaka knew the secret but they weren't sure whether it could be an absolute lie which would shock the king of the ghosts in his soulless spirit.
So a meat was presented to the ghost to eat, chicken with its feather cut into fillets with its coagulated blood, and placed in a wooden large plate, and spiced with red palm oil and kola nuts wish were broken in parts. "Eat your food first, Zakat the most benevolent king," Kuaka teased.
This spurred Zakat into eating without a careful study of the meal which had no accompanying cup of water to drink. Even Kuaka had wondered why Barbara should present the meal to the ghost without a cup of water for that would anger him, for that wasn't the original plan. He was to fall down with the water and claim that there wasn't any water again to be fetched, which they all were not sure of its efficacy. But she kept quiet for she didn't know the reason since no lie was fabricated except this, and their hope had dashed that king Mustapha would soon be killed. The king of the ghosts ate and ate with happiness until he remembered that there was no cup of water on the table for him. "Get me some water!" he shouted with anger for he was being coaxed. "He will go for it, please Zakat," Kuaka pleaded.
Barbara left for the water but stayed back. This worried the ghost that he became angrier than Kuaka and king Mustapha could imagine. The ghost shouted again furiously. "Get me water!" he thundered and the palace shook from its foundation, that the soldiers ran all round and being terrified. But the order to them was that they shouldn't enter into the palace. So they panicked for the happening at that night. They lit their torch lamps and strayed. "I will kill all of you and raise the land desolate!" shouted the ghost. "Wait for the boy," said Kuaka, ready to die along with king Mustapha. "I am coming please, the water threw on the floor and I am picking them back into the pot so that I can fetch some for Zakat," said Barbara. This surprised Kuaka, the lie was absolute. She could see that Zakat shivered in both inside and outside himself.
"Lies! Humans with great lies! Ungrateful humans!" shouted Zakat. His spirit started to melt him out of annoyance because the lie had got hold of him like a redden fire object had been pierced into his heart.
With great annoyance he became powerless, fell down and fainted. Then he melted to a dust and transformed to two lizards, male and female alike. Barbara peeped to see this and drew his sword to cut them into bits but stopped by Kuaka. "You have done it!" shouted Kuaka. The lizards crawled out of the palace into the neighborhood, nodding. King Mustapha was happy and extremely calmed in his heart. The queen was happy and that night she gave birth to twins, a beautiful baby girl, the king named her Mauna and a handsome boy he also named Dalasi.
The kingdom was happy and other friendly kingdoms joined for a great freedom had come to the land of Uluru. The king divided his possessions into two and gave it to Barbara and Kuaka, and made them rich and noble in the land. Many other kings gave them gift of horses and donkeys. And they helped king Mustapha to expand his kingdom beyond other lands outside Uluru by peaceful treaties. Every surrounding land and kingdom loved Mustapha that they were ready to give to him whatever he wanted from them. Soon he made all lands and people to live peacefully and with great prosperity.
