In their cheering and clapping and ululating, the Goza people were checking out the bride prize and counting the animals they brought to ensure they had brought enough. After a quick head count of the animals and checking their size and fatness, the cheering got louder to show their approval. Mabige was oblivious to their intentions, but he, all the same, was satisfied that they were pleased with him by the sound of their cheers.
Mama Mondo was quietly pleased to hear the pleasant cheering outside and she smiled to herself and called Beko from her bedroom and said to her, “Are you hearing all that commotion outside, my daughter? This is the making of you Beko, the people outside have seen your bride prize and they are pleased with it. I believe your father and I will too.”
“I am scared and excited at the same time, Mama, I was not expecting him to arrive today, I thought it was going to be in a few weeks or more,” Beko said.
Mama Mondo retorted, “It’s a good thing, isn’t it, that he has come back sooner rather than later? After all, if he did come much later then we would wonder if he is at all serious in his proposal. You have nothing to worry about. It just goes to show that he really loves you and does not want to spend another minute apart from you. So you need to start getting used to the idea that in two days’ time you will be going back to Huru as a wife with your husband to start a new life. I am so very proud of you.”
Beko said, “I know, Mama, but am worried about leaving you behind as we have always been together you and me, so I am a bit sad about that too.”
Mama Mondo walked to Beko and embraced her reassuringly and said, “No, Beko, you needn’t worry about me, I have been waiting for a day like this for many years. So I am well prepared for the day you will leave me to begin your own life apart from me. Besides I have your father to annoy me and to fuss over, and the boys as well, that should keep me occupied!” The two women laughed heartily.
Just at that moment, Papa Mondo walked in with a grin on his face and said to them, “Have you heard or seen what is going on in the yard?”. The women shook their heads in pretence and he added with excitement at the opportunity of telling them what was going on, “Mabige has just arrived with loads of goats and cows and goods for your bride prize, my daughter, and I am well pleased with what I just saw.”
When he realised that the women were not jumping for joy, he realised that he was just telling them old news. He was used to that reaction when he sat at night around a fire with the rest of the subjects and their families that when he told them his stories, he would just get cold reactions now as they had heard his stories repeated far too many times to count. He said to his wife and daughter, “You already know, don’t you? Otherwise you would not be so cold like its old news you are hearing.” The women looked at him and smiled with a nod.
Mondo grinned again with joy and added, “Well, so what are you waiting for, get ready and organise the women to cook a feast, my daughter is getting married today!”
Beko asked her father, “So does this mean you have already accepted the bride prize, Papa? You are not going to send him away are you, Papa?”
Mondo smiled and added, “My dear daughter, I cannot deny you marriage, Mabige is a good sort and he brought more than enough beasts and goods for me to turn him away. He is a wise young man and today I will grant him his wish and I hope you will be very happy together.”
Beko jumped up and down with delight and ran to give her father a big hug and turned to her mother and hugged her very tight as well. The two women sobbed with joy and Papa Mondo told them to get themselves together and start preparing for the feast. The celebrations would last for two days and this would involve the killing of cows and goats, drinking and different levels of ceremonies and dances to the final day in which the bride and groom would be escorted from the village and taken halfway on their journey back to Huru to live for the rest of their lives.
As with anything that goes on in Goza, the news of Beko marriage spread like wildfire and everyone was ready to participate in anything that needed doing. The women and men organised themselves to prepare food, fetch water and gather firewood to cook in their huge three-legged iron pots as was their custom. Beko and her mother were to do what they needed to do as quickly as possible and vanish for the rest of the day until the time when people would be sent for her to come and meet her husband. Whatever she did between now and then was to make sure she did not bump into Mabige until she was introduced to him in the ceremony room.
It was deemed bad luck to see your bride or groom on the day of the marriage before the bride prize was paid. Beko was desperate to see Mabige but had to wait patiently until later today when she was called to the room. In the meantime, she had to prepare herself by washing her body with fragrant oils and to wear her special dress which Queen Eleaza had sewn
