Taboos

Dela tried as much as possible not to make any noise at all. He found himself in an awkward position, but there was nothing he could do about it. You know how sound travelled far in the forest at night. It was very dark. In fact the only way he was able to see the two culprits at all was by the reflection of the moon's dim light on the sacred river. Despite his predicament Dela grinned, beside himself with elation. He had finally caught them red-handed. The Chief Priest and that his dirty minion, Agbeko. When the other villagers heard what he, Dela, had to tell them, they would change his name from Dela The No-Good Gossip to Dela The Hero. Or Dela The Saviour. He really couldn't decide yet. Neither was he picky, so far as the current nickname was changed.

The Chief Priest barked an order and Agbeko waded a little into the waters and pulled on what looked like a fish trap. Dela nearly let out an "Ao!" (something he was prone to doing when he got too excited.) This was better than he had expected! This Chief Priest was a fraud! After going through all those fake rituals to make this river a 'sacred' river not to be touched by any of the fishermen in the village, he himself was fishing in it! Ao, this would make a brilliant story!

-crack-

Dela had stepped on a dry twig, and the sound carried through the forest like that of a canon.
Startled by the sound, the Chief Priest looked up.
"Who's there?!" he called out sternly. But the only thing he got on response was the rustling of the disturbed bushes, for Dela had wasted no time in running as fast as his short legs would allow him to.

"It's probably a bush animal," Agbeko offered, wading back to the bank of the river.
"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. Tell me what you saw now."
Agbeko grinned, "First you must tell me I'm your best student. If I hadn't seen this trend we'd ha-"
"One more word from your mouth that isn't in answer to my question and you'll be my only student I sacrificed to Mawu," snarled the Chief Priest.
The grin left Agbeko's face.
"All the fish the trap caught were big. Grown." He answered.
"Good," the Chief Priest smiled, "So maybe we can lift the ban on fishing in this river during the next moon, and then place a ban on the other river. Release the fish and let us go back."