THE PARFUMERIE VENDOR’S SON

My Continued Stories will resume soon - - Today is a short story all here!

THE PARFUMERIE VENDOR’S SON

Obed was the son of a rich merchant selling oils and was a Parfumerie vendor.

He had influence over the ruling class and was welcomed at any time to the Ruler’s palace.

The chief ruler Aban wanted a daughter for political purposes, to marry her off to another Chief and form an alliance between their Chiefdoms. Since none of his wives produced a female heir he was quite upset for he considered it a necessity.

Obed was allowed to play with the street children and was especially taken with one of the young females.  She was exceptionally comely and smarter than most of the boys.

They had become friends for three years when Aban the Chief saw her playing in the street. He had a servant enquire as to whom she belonged to and found she was the daughter of one of the widows. Her husband had been killed in one of the desert battles and now she had little to feed her brood on.

Aban had the servant offer her money to allow Aban to adopt the little girl with the promise of more money each year and she agreed.

He could have exercised his power and taken the girl to his palace but he was a fair man.

Adana was taken from the streets and was kept with the other women at the palace and taught how to please and support her soon to be, ruling husband.

While she missed her friends the one she missed most was Obed.

Obed visited the palace often with his father and would sneak off and spy on the women of the palace. They of course would see him but because Adana liked him they said nothing.

Once in awhile they would manage to be alone for a short time by bribing the guard with nard scented oil for his woman. Obed had mastered the art of the perfumes and oils his father sold and was in line to take over the business one day.

The time came when Adana was grown enough for the Chief to start trying to arrange a marriage with one of the surrounding Chiefdoms but the word got out that Adana was adopted and none of the Chief wanted her.

Without the real blood line the alliance would be weak for the blood line was everything.

After this major disappointment the Chief wanted to get rid of Adana because she had become an embarrassment. The older son of Aban wanted to take her for his wife but due to the Chief’s disappointment it took a lot of convincing to get the Chief to relent.

The Chief told his son the girl should be allowed to mature for she would be expected to bear children right away but the son would have none of it. The word went out that the Chief’s son was taking a wife and the whole of the Chiefdom prepared to celebrate the event.

Needless to say Obed was beside himself. He knew the Chief had planned to marry her off but the fact it was now and to a man he didn’t care for was only adding to his pain.

After weeks of preparation the day was here and for Obed it was unbearable and to make it worse they were to supply all of the perfumes and ointments.

At the same time there was an uprising and war was pending among some of the tribes and the day after the wedding the soldiers were to leave for battle. The bride groom, Aban’s son Alban was to lead his tribe into battle.

After the ceremony the feasting went far into the night eating and drinking nectars. Obed couldn’t stand the thought of Adana being with Alban on her wedding night so he managed to slip a potion into Alban’s drink which would cause him to go to sleep and be completely out of it.

As the evening wore on Alban grew sleepier and his friends helped him into the bed chamber where Adana was waiting after the women had prepared the wedding bed. Alban managed to make it to the bedroom but fell over sound asleep on the floor.

It was after midnight when the feasting was over and Obed had hid out of sight until all was quiet and he slipped into the bedroom of Adana. After checking Alban and putting a pillow under his head he slipped into the bed.

It only took a short time for Adana to understand it wasn’t Alban who was in the bed. She tried to shout but Obed’s hand was over her mouth and he kept speaking to her till she realized who it was and then she wrapped her arms around him.

The closeness was more than they could stand and soon the two were one till almost dawn. She realized what happened would be discovered when Alban returned and took up his conjugal duties so she laid out her spotted gown on the bed and took one of the singing bird’s blood and smeared it on Alban after removing his robes.

Shortly he was roused by the guard and told to clean himself then prepare for going into battle. It was obvious to those who saw the clothing that Alban had consummated the marriage and then passed out.

They engaged in battle that day and Alban was badly wounded and died shortly after he was brought home.  Adana put on widow’s clothing which she was to wear until the father-in-law said otherwise, for life if he wished.

A few months later it became obvious Adana was going to have a child. The Chief rejoiced for his son had managed to impregnate his wife on their wedding night. Someone else was rejoicing albeit quietly about the happy event and that was Obed.

 

Obed insisted Adana needed certain oils to help her have an easy birth so he was allowed to see Adana often and they were drawn even closer because of their child soon to be born.

The birth of the child went well and the Chief was beside himself with joy. He had a grand daughter who reminded him of his son so he thought. As the time went by Obed’s father’s influence grew over the Chief and he convinced him to allow Adana to remove the widow’s clothing and returned to normal clothing.

When the child was two years old the Chief was convinced by Obed’s father to allow Adana to marry again. He said his son would be the most likely prospect for he had been with her through all of the conflict she had been through. Since Obed had won the Chief’s favor he agreed but they would have to live in the palace so he could see his grand child every day.

Everyone was in agreement about that and they were wed. Some time later Adana had two more children, a boy, and a girl. As they grew older the second girl looked just like the first one and the boy like his father.

The fact that the boy looked like Obed and the two girls looked the same as each other it made some wonder about the girls having different fathers.

 

Finis