“But think, Chief, how you would feel if you were captured and taken away from your people?  Think how sad this young man feels.  Great chiefs show mercy and kindness to the weak.  Will you show mercy and kindness to the people of the village and free this young man?”

“A great chief is not weak.  He does not act like a woman.  A woman shows kindness and love.  I am not weak.  I will punish.  I will revenge myself on those who would do evil to me.”

“Revenge belongs to the true and powerful God.  He will punish those who do evil.  I beg you, Chief Njiri, to set this man free.”

“Ma, if I were not a good chief I would have killed you a long time ago.  But go now.  I do not want to hear your talk.  I will not set this young man free.  Maybe I will kill him.  Maybe I will not kill him.  But I will not set him free.  Go, before I become angry with you.”

“I will go, but remember Chief Njiri, the great and powerful God who sees and knows the badness in your heart.  He knows the evil you do.  Please turn to Him and believe in Him before it is too late and you end in Hell, the place where bad people suffer forever.”

“Go,” said Chief Njiri angrily, “get out of my village.  Go back to Ekenge.”

Sadly Mary started back to Ekenge.

“I have failed these people who asked for my help.  O God, soften the heart of Chief Njiri and keep Your protecting hand over the young man Kolu.”

When Chief Edem heard that Njiri would not set the man free, he said,

“Njiri has insulted our Ma.  Let the warriors get their spears and shields.  Let us get ready for war.”

The women slipped quietly into Mary’s room to tell her the latest news.  It made Mary sad that these men were getting ready for a war, but neither one of the chiefs would listen to her.  Mary knew where to go for help.  She prayed to God.

“O God,” prayed Mary, “You can stop this war.  You can soften the hearts of these cruel chiefs.  Please stop this war so that the warriors may not be killed and their wives made widows and their children orphans.  Hear me for the sake of Jesus, my Saviour.”

A man knocked on the door of Mary’s hut.  “Ma, Ma,” he cried, “Kolu has been set free.  Chief Njiri let him go, and he is back at the village.  There will be no war!”

“Thank You, Father in Heaven,” prayed Mary.  “Thank You that You heard my prayers and that peace and quiet will again be in the villages.”

Mary had a true friend in Ma Eme, the sister of Chief Edem.  She helped Mary often.  She did everything she could to help Mary and the mission, but one thing she never did, that was to confess Christ openly.  She and Mary talked of many things as they worked together.  One day Ma Eme said,

“When my husband died, I had to go through the chicken test.”

“What is that?” asked Mary.

“All of my husband’s wives, I too, were put on trial.  The witch doctors were trying to find who caused my husband, a great chief, to die.  Each of us had to bring a chicken.  The witch doctor chopped off the heads of the chickens one at a time.  If the headless chicken fluttered one way, the witch doctor said the wife was innocent.  If it fluttered the other way, he said she was guilty.”