Chapter 7 A Small Child Drowns in the River
The children used to play on the river bank. They caught small fish with their bare hands. Nebu had been joining them, before he became the king. His leader´s responsibilities forced him to quit playing with other kids. He matured sooner than his friends.
The river was known to be dangerous. Parents warned their children not to go there. They said that the river spirits tricked kids to imagine that the river was a safe place. However, the strong currents were unseen. Sometimes, kids drowned before their parents got there early enough in time to save them.
Once there was a little five-year-old girl. She played alone on the river bank. She was tempted to go swimming after seeing the older boys standing in the water. The girl stepped into the water. She didn´t notice the sudden drop in the bottom. Her feet didn´t touch the bottom. So, she panicked. Because, she couldn´t swim.
The strong current sucked her deeper into the water. Her head sank under the surface. She drowned quickly. The story of her tragic death was told by the boys to her parents. Immediately, her mother knew that the girl was stolen by a river spirit. The spirit was a demonic entity, who was looking for innocent souls to devour.
Nebu heard about the girl´s death also. He knew the child, whom he´d seen playing alone on the bank for few times earlier. The event shocked him. Death of a child was always considered a bad omen. The Urur never sacrificed kids for the gods, but only their enemies. Everyone in the Urur tribe began to think that a demon was punishing them by taking away their children.
The girl´s dead body was discovered later. It floated among pieces of driftwood. One of the adult fishermen caught a glimpse of the corpse. The sight made him sick and scared him. He realized that the evil spirits were taking over. An innocent girl had been sacrificed for the demon for no reason. The man began to scream for help.
Everyone, except the girl´s parents, thought that her death was an accident. Her parents blamed the boys for leading her to go swimming. They gave up their accusations, eventually. They lacked the evidence to prove that the girl´s death resulted from a murder. Especially, the girl´s mother lost her sanity after the accident. She became depressed so badly, that she attempted suicide with a hand axe.
Her suicidal attempt was prevented by her husband. He removed the axe from her hand. Then, he threw the weapon in to the river. He embraced his wife. They wept together for hours, while they sat on the river bank. The husband saved his wife from taking away her own life. The couple drowned in their sorrow after losing their child.
