Ivory Bangles by Eric Ng'maryo - A SILENT SONG AND OTHER STORIES
The Plot Summary The old man goes to a tribal seer for a consultation after noticing something strange about a goat he had slaughtered (he notices blood specks on the liver of a goat he had slaughtered). The seer after listening to the old man tells him that his wife, is going to die (based off that sign from the slaughtered goat), and the only way to prevent this is to give the wife a thorough beating and send her to her parents.The seer’s pebbles say the man’s wife is going to die because the spirits were jealous of a happy wife. The old man is hesitant to follow this advice and suggests offering goats as a sacrifice instead. However, the seer is adamant that to avert the wife's death, the pebbles say he has to give her a thorough beating. The old man is a chief's councillor and is regarded as a small chief. As much as he is respected, many are surprised that he has only one wife. When the chief suggested that he marries another wife, the man replies...