INALU and the mysterious palm tree

Greetings!

The kind of music I grew up with, I mean the native music, was fun to listen to and watch because of the storylines they came with. Most of them were purely stories, both fictional and based on real-life events.

Today, I want to share one of the stories I know from a song. It's one of those that I find so interesting because, according to our fathers, the event really happened, but to me, it still appears as pure fiction.

In the village way back in the early 90s, there lived a man called INALU with his wife and two kids. Their livelihood was based on farming, where they cultivated food crops.

One a particular morning, the wife was about to cook beans and she checked the keg for red oil, only to find it empty. She went to her husband, Inalu, and asked him to go to the bush to cut palm fruits so she could make red oil from it to be used in preparing beans. Unfortunately, that day was EKE, their market day, on which Inalu forbade climbing palm trees. This was a law he inherited from his fathers, who told him that something bad would happen if he violated it. He reminded his wife of this, although she was already aware, but she was adamant and refused to consider cooking other meals that's void of red oil for that day. She demanded that he get her palm fruits to make oil to cook beans, or she would take the children and leave the house.

Inalu pleaded with her to prepare an alternative food that didn't require red oil, but she remained adamant, suggesting she had ulterior motives....it was damn obvious.

The morning became very troubling for Inalu. He pondered over the situation but couldn’t bear the thought of breaking the law. After much deliberation, he decided to consult a native doctor to determine if something bad would really happen if he climbed the tree. The native doctor responded with a parable and ultimately advised him to follow his heart.

Not wanting to lose his family, Inalu made up his mind to break the law and climb the palm tree on the market day.

He went to the bush, found a palm tree with ripe fruits, and approached it. As he was about to install his climbing rope, he paused for a moment, reflecting on his life, his family, and the potential consequences. Despite his regrets, he proceeded to install the climbing rope because he wasn't ready to loose his wife.

As he climbed, the top of the palm tree with the fruit began to extend into the clouds. He kept climbing, driven by his determination to satisfy his wife. The higher he climbed, the more the palm tree extended. When he was about to enter the clouds, he attempted to climb down but was unable to. A force held him back, compelling him to keep climbing. Looking down, he saw his wife and children as tiny figures and cried out, begging his wife to take care of their children because he was gone.

Seeing what was happening, his wife realized the gravity of the situation and began to cry, pleading with him to come down and saying she no longer needed to cook beans. However, it was too late. Inalu had already disappeared into the clouds, never to be seen again. Thus, the mysterious palm tree took her husband away forever.

Here is the video of the song;

It's done in a native language and it's going to be hard for you to understand, but the rhythm is soothing to the ears.

Thanks for reading.

Video was taken from YouTube

Thumbnail source and designed on Canva