The title of the story is "IFEGI-OKU" (pronounced: eee-fay-gee-oku), literal meaning: "something that holds fire", from the Igbo people of Nigeria.  No one that I know of is called Ifegi-oku.  Yet, if such an individual does exist, I imagine he would most likely be male.  Yet in this story, Ifegi-oku is a young girl who lived and died in pre-missionary Africa.

This story is written as a narrative poem, in present tense and organized in tight four-line stanzas, varying in length from one page to ... well, there are no limits really.  Each "chapter" is an installment.  Each installment reveals a moment in our protagonist's life and, hopefully, moves the story forward. 

The idea for this story came when I realized there aren't any African epics ... of the style of the Greeks of antiquity.  Since African story-telling was mostly of an oral tradition, with numerous animals representing the characters of individuals, one would be hard-pressed to find a written story in which a mortal, and a girl at that is the star of the show, so to speak.  Of course, I stand corrected if such a thing does exists. 

In any case, these musings brought about the idea of Ifegi-oku ... a headstrong girl who rocks her part of the world with her inflexible stance to follow her heart.

I hope you enjoy.

Sincerely,

Vigil Chimé