Sauyin Rayuwa Book One Complete Hausa Novel
A huge pile of dirty dishes was scattered across the middle of the compound, enough to make anyone think a wedding ceremony had just taken place.
Sitting on a small stool beside them was a young girl who could not have been more than fourteen years old.
The dishes were piled high in front of her as she washed them quietly, tears repeatedly gathering in her eyes.
By now, one would have expected her to have become accustomed to this kind of hardship, but a single look at her was enough to see that she was suffering terribly.
Even the clothes she wore looked exhausted from constant washing and use.
Her small blouse and wrapper hung loosely around her body because she had become painfully thin.
No one needed to explain that hunger had already weakened her.
She was naturally fair-skinned, but hardship had darkened and drained her complexion so much that her original skin tone was barely noticeable unless she lifted her neck.
She had a slender nose, a small mouth and naturally pink lips.
Despite everything she had endured, the hardship had still failed to completely hide the beauty Allah had blessed Nihal with.
Suddenly, a loud shout made her raise her head in fear.
Indo’s angry voice thundered across the compound.
“What exactly is wrong with you? How have you still not finished washing all those dishes?”
She continued shouting.
“You useless little witch! Try and make me lose my morning customers today and, wallahi, I will not tolerate it.”
Nihal quietly wiped away her tears and continued washing.
She knew Gwaggo Indo very well.
This was certainly not the first time the woman had beaten her mercilessly.
Nihal hurried through the remaining dishes, carried the clean plates to the storage area and then walked toward the room.
She had barely attempted to open the door when Gwaggo shouted again.
“Hey!”
Nihal immediately stopped.
She turned around nervously, her eyes wide with fear.
Gwaggo Indo glared at her.
“What exactly do you think you are doing?”
“So you want to go and touch that filthy mother of yours before coming back here to prepare my koko?”
“You want my customers to drink it and die because it is not your mother who will suffer the loss, right?”
She stepped closer to Nihal.
“Today I will teach you never to make the mistake of trying to enter Hansatu’s room again.”
Gwaggo grabbed Nihal and began beating her violently.
She struck her repeatedly until the young girl could barely defend herself.
Then she shoved her away with such force that Nihal’s head hit the wall.
Nihal cried even harder.
Gwaggo Indo stood there breathing heavily from anger.
“I swear by Allah, neither you nor Hansatu will ever defeat me!” she shouted.
“Even the man who tried to stand against us ended up dead, so what do the two of you think you can do?”
“You are only deceiving yourselves.”
She continued angrily, “Just wait until Malam returns. I will also ask him why he insisted on keeping the two of you in this house.”
“He should have sent both you and your mother away instead of leaving you here for me to deal with.”