The Salty Stone of Umuanyị
Long ago, before traders brought white salt across rivers and forests, the people of Umuanyị village knew a different taste of salt—one that came from stone.
Deep in the red earth, beyond the ogene tree and the resting place of ancestors, there lay a smooth grey stone called Nkume-Nnu—the Salt Stone. It was not cooked, not ground, not sold in markets. It was simply licked.
Each morning, elders, hunters, and nursing mothers would walk barefoot to the shrine grove. They knelt, touched the earth, and gently licked the stone. Just once. No more. For Nkume-Nnu was sacred—too much of it could bring sickness, they said.
The stone tasted sharp, bitter, and salty all at once. It burned the tongue slightly, but afterward the body felt strong, the blood warm, the spirit awake. Hunters swore it sharpened their eyes. Pregnant women said it calmed the child in the womb. Old men claimed it reminded them they were still alive.
Legend says the stone was a gift from Ala, the earth goddess herself.
When Umuanyị once suffered a long drought, the people grew weak. Crops failed, animals fled, and even the drums sounded tired. A young girl named Nkiru, whose mother had died of hunger, cried at the shrine. Her tears fell on the ground, cracking the earth open. From that crack rose Nkume-Nnu—hard as stone, salty as sweat.
Ala spoke through the wind:
“This is the taste of endurance. Lick it, but do not own it.”
For generations, the village obeyed. No one tried to carry the stone away. No one broke it. It belonged to all and to none.
But one season, a greedy trader from another land saw the elders licking the stone. At night,
He tried to steal it, hoping to sell it like white salt. The ground shook. The stone became heavier than a buffalo. By morning, the trader was gone—only his footprints remained, filled with ants.
To this day, old people in some Igbo villages still remember the story. They say modern salt fills the mouth, but Nkume-Nnu filled the soul.
And that is why some things are not eaten, not sold, not owned—
only respected.
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