By
Obododimma Oha
In Alaigbo, there is a popular saying: "Mmiri mara ugo asaala ugo ahụ" (The rain that beat the Eagle has made the bird even more good-looking"). Sometimes this saying is extended to include how the rain affected the vulture, a comparative strategy that reminds us that both birds are related. The extension to the vulture adds : "... nke mara udele gburu ya egbu" ("... the one that beat the vulture just killed the bird"). Sorry for the Vulture. Sorry for being unlucky.
Whenever I hear this saying, I feel sorry for the vulture and envy the eagle. Some birds are affected badly by rainstorms and those that can fly high should thank their stars. I recall that Igbo folksong that says: "...Ebe mmiri mara nnụnụ, ahụ ga-ajụ ya oyi." Translated roughly as "... A bird beaten by the rain feels cold." So, we can understand the predicament of the vulture, especially when its stomach is still a cemetery!
There is strong sympathy, in fact, admiration, for the eagle and no such sympathy or admiration for the vulture. In some countries, for instance, Nigeria, the vulture is metaphorically referred to as " government pickin," as a way of registering its being homeless and beyond punishment. It seems the vulture's freedom is paradoxically a curse, for the bird is still under the bondage of dirt and disease. The eagle, on the other hand, is clean and far from contract of disease. Sorry, too, for government whose freedom is slavery, or abundance serious deficiency!
One can see clearly that the rain that beat the vulture is devastating, and the same rain treated the eagle well. It is, therefore, very offensive to be metaphorized as a vulture, not only because of the idea that the referent is a scavenger, but because of the perception of the terrible looks. The vulture looks as if it is going to die any minute!
The main issue: that disfavor or mischief designed for the eagle is only helping the bird, ironically! Isn't it true that we end up helping that person whose interests we think that we are undermining? If Satan had known that by taking Jesus to the cross and making him spread out his hands that he was advertising his new religion and initiating a very important force of globalization, he would not have ventured near that crucifixion. It, in reverse, cost him a lot.
The point, therefore, is that it is a sheer waste of time to plan to work against the eagle. That noble bird will triumph, what more, the conspiracy will end up helping the high flyer! It is even frustrating to for the rain to beat the eagle also. That rain should be for the vulture and make it look more and more terrible.
Isn't it interesting the eagle can now perch on graveyards? As a symbol of nobility in the coat of arms! Is it really a vulture? Why drag the eagle into this mess ?
The eagle in that noble outfit also has another relative hidden away. Idealized as a criminal, that relative is the kite. It wasn't beaten by the rain, but it has a bad name because it takes even if it belongs to another. It believes in not working to own.
What interesting relatives, eagle of the coat of arms. An opposite can sometimes be the real thing! So, this rain could have drenched the same person in different costumes, who knows? It is the same tropical storm breaking branches and breaking relationships and breaking people!
The eagle
could be
the vulture
could be
the kite
... Who knows?
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