And there, in the darkness, she saw it with her own eyes.
Her mother bathed.
Abseed felt something break inside her.
Anger.
Pain.
Betrayal.
She felt her mother had been punishing her for nothing. She felt her mother had allowed the villagers to mock her for years for no reason.
Tears filled her eyes.
All the years of shame.
All the years of suffering.
The following day, Abseed made a decision.
She carried a sponge. She carried soap. She walked deep into the forest where nobody could see her.
Her heart was beating fast.
“If my mother can bathe and nothing happens,” she thought, “then nothing will happen to me.”
She fetched water from a small stream in the forest. Her hands were shaking.
Then slowly, she poured the water over her body.
She began to bathe.
The moment the water touched her skin, the sky changed.
The wind began to blow violently. The forest became dark. A loud strange sound echoed through the trees.
And something terrible started happening.
Abseed suddenly froze. Her body became stiff. She could not move her hands. She could not move her legs. She could not run.
She stood still like a statue.
Suddenly, a powerful wind blew out of her body. It was a strong wind, huge and forceful. It moved through the forest. It blew across the trees. It left the forest and entered the village. It moved straight toward Aduke.
The moment the spirit wind touched her body, Aduke suddenly screamed.
Her legs suddenly began to move. She started running, running fast, running without control until she reached the deep forest.
The forest was calling her.
When she finally reached the deepest part of the forest, she saw something shocking.
She saw Abseed.
But this Abseed was stiff.
She had turned into a tree.
Aduke fell to the ground and started crying.
Suddenly, the spirit, the same Kuduku tree that had given her the baby years ago, appeared again.
The old woman came out of the tree. Her face was angry.
“You disobeyed me,” she said loudly. “I told you this child must not bathe for 15 years. You broke the rule.”
The old woman pointed at Aduke and said, “Now I will turn you into a tree too, just like the child.”
Aduke cried, “Please, please, don’t turn me into a tree. Please give me back my child.”
The old woman was furious because Aduke had destroyed the agreement. The forest shook. The trees prepared to punish her.
Then the spirit spoke again.
“There is only one condition, and it is a punishment.”
Aduke looked up quickly.
“If you can take care of Abseed, who is now a tree, if you can stay in the forest and take care of her with love like your child for six months, then she will come back to life.”
