Ezigbo, the Spirit Child
by An Igbo story as told by Adaora Nzelibe Schmiedl

Play script. Dramatized by Max Bush from an Igbo Story as told by Adaora Nzelibe Schmiedl.

This story comes to us from an Igbo village in Nigeria, where the storyteller was raised.

It is told with native songs, dances, drums, chants and games.

But the heart of the story is universal---the value of children and the struggle to keep them safe.

Both the author and the story teller suggest the play can be performed by casts of mixed races.

7-8 women, 1-3 men.

Approx.

runtime: 60 mins.

Long ago, when human beings and spirits were still close, the wife of a powerful chief longed for a child.

The woman could have children, but her womb was possessed by the spirit of an Ogbanje.

An Ogbanje (a forever-chld) is an invisible spirit-child that lives among the people.

Sometimes this spirit wants to become part of the human world, but when the child is born, it longs for the spirit world and the comfort of its friends.

The River Spirit comforts the Mother by telling her she will have a child an seven market weeks later she gives birth to Ezigbo, "The Good One".

As she grows, the Mother, Medicine Woman, and Ngozi (Ezigbo's best friend) struggle to keep Ezigbo in the human world, while the Ogbanje try to call her home.