BE SLOW IN JUDGEMENT

BE SLOW IN JUDGEMENT

Zipa, the dog has been living in harmony with his mistress until an unprecedented event set in. Ada the wife of Ikeoha has just given birth to her first child.  They lived together in a bungalow located in the outskirts of the village near the waterside.  Her husband was a wealthy trader who dealt on building materials. His business engagement made him to be away from home most of the time as he travelled a long distance for the purchase of his commodities.  

Ada had lived with her husband in the city before the incidence of war which led to the dispersion of the city dwellers to their various places of origin. Ada was a pretty damsel with a lovely eye. She had lived with her husband for five years in the city without any child. Notwithstanding, the husband still loved her dearly.  Though, the husband would want her to get a house help to lessen her domestic activities but she would not give consent to that. Instead the couple resorted to the use their dog, Zipa as an errand messenger as well as a housekeeper.

No sooner had they returned to the village than Ada became pregnant. She gave birth to her first son and both couples were very happy. Indeed, their matrimonial ecstasy came to the peak. Zipa the dog has become such a very useful domestic pet to his mistress that his mistress needed no better house help than him. Day by day does Ada leave her baby under the guard of Zipa. Each time she comes back, she would shout Zipa! And the dog would run towards her, squat and shake his tail as a sign of welcome.  She would then enter the house to find her baby lying on the bed peacefully. This had happened several times.

One day, Ada went to the market and left her baby under the watch of the dog as has been her usual practice. It happened that she did not come back on time as she used to do. It was a very hot afternoon; she hurried into the house to see her child. Surprisingly, she did not find her baby on the bed where she laid him. Zipa! She shouted. The dog ran out from one corner of the room licking his mouth which was covered with blood and squatted before his mistress waving his tail.

At the sight of this, Ada could not withhold herself. She fell on the bed in great shock and began to weep. A series of thought began to run through her mind. Has Zipa eaten up her only son out of hunger because she delayed in coming back? She asked herself. When she could no longer bear it she called Zipa into the room, took a pestle and smashed his head and the poor dog fell, lying dead in a pool of blood.

 Ada went back into her room to weep for her son. Shortly afterwards, there was sudden cry of a baby. Ada rose up curiously and listened more attentively in the direction of the cry. Behold, she saw her child lying unperturbed under the very bed where she had laid him. On looking more closely, she saw a large python lying dead on the floor under the same bed with the head crushed. She unhesitatingly took her baby and exclaimed for joy.

She began to ask herself, what this mystery is all about. Later, she discovered that it was actually Zipa, the dog that protected her baby from the danger of death by crushing the head of the python that wanted to eat him up. The dog which should have been rewarded for such a great act of bravery and kindness towards her mistress has had his own blood mingled with that of the deadly python. At last, Ada was happy that her son was alive but could not forgive herself for having slaughtered Zipa in cold blood. That day, she learnt a bitter lesson, never to be hasty in judgement.