Ayodele Morocco-Clarke - The Nestbury Tree

The Nestbury tree holds special significance for the narrator's family. It has been with them since her grandfather's time, and stands behind the house on the spacious compound they call home. Among their holdings is a church, also built by her family, though in recent years it has fallen under the influence of a Shepherd who doesn't exactly see eye-to-eye with the family. In fact, he declares the Nestbury tree a haven for witches, and demands its destruction.

[The Shepherd] reiterated his opinion that the tree was used by witches as a meeting place and that this could clearly be seen by anyone as there were always bats hovering around and nesting in the tree.

The narrator's mother is outraged, and so is the narrator, though, at fifteen, she perhaps does not understand the gravity of the situation. She sees a religious man making wild and unsubstantiated claims against a tree; her mother sees a man peddling his influence to reduce that of their family. His power has increased while theirs has declined.

But our narrator does understand that the tree is important,

the Nestbury tree was a tree my grandfather had planted as soon as he bought the property. He had brought the Nestbury sapling from Kingston, Jamaica when he migrated to Lagos. It had been his most precious possession and he had guarded it diligently. That tree had been in the yard before my mother married my father. In fact, it was older than Mother herself and was a defining mark in our whole area of Igbobi in Lagos.

She also notes that, “Nobody messed with the Nestbury tree and everyone in the community knew this unwritten rule.” But she can't quite put her finger on why everyone's nose is so far out of joint. She is amused at the emotionally charged reaction of her mother, the Elders who come to visit, cajoling and wheedling in an attempt to have her forgive the Shepherd, and even the Pastor of the area, who sends his representative to try and make amends at a church service,

God was the creator of all things, and if the Lord was not happy with anything, he will in his divine wisdom take care of that thing. He said that if anyone felt that they were being oppressed by evil forces, they should take it to the Lord in prayer, and they would be surprised that God does actually answer prayers.

But:

Unfortunately, the pastor's representative did not know that he had unwittingly sowed a seed that was to germinate in the Shepherd's mind. His words were to form the basis for the Shepherd to launch a stinging attack on the Nestbury tree, and by extension, my mother.

From here, the intensity of the story ratchets up a notch. The Shepherd declares, in no uncertain terms, that the time for talk is over, and that the tree will be destroyed, come what may. Throughout, the narrator's mother, though angry, is portrayed as a rational, intelligent person who uses logic, and not emotion, to win her battles. The Shepherd says the trees shrieks and moans in the night, the mother counters by saying the noise comes from bats. The Shepherd says that strange birds fly about that tree only, and again, the mother counters with bats. Why, then, are bats in the tree at all? Surely because of witches! The mother, stupefied by this argument, can only demand he get off her property.

The Shepherd, tending to his flock of believers, begins a seven-night vigil, which he believes will culminate in the tree's undoing. The narrator notes that,

Like real sheep, they were being lead by the Shepherd of the church without stopping to question the path he was leading them along.

Ayodele Morocco-Clarke's short story, The Nestbury Tree can be seen, I believe, as the sturdy forces of intellect and reason collapsing underneath the tide of emotion, anger and bigotry that comes from the need of the pack to find a scapegoat. The narrator's family is portrayed as nothing less than normal, calm people, though perhaps wealthier than others (they do, after all, own the land the church is on, and the church itself) – but they are overwhelmed by the force of the Shepherd and his flock. The seven-night vigil culminates in a massive storm, which uproots not only the tree, but destroys the family home and the surroundings. Who is the witch now? Something dark has occurred, and an innocent family pays the price for no other reason than the Shepherd must lead his flock somewhere.

Morocco-Clarke's writing style captures the voice of an intelligent, though naive, fifteen year old girl rather well. The narrator spends most of the time being amused, finding it all a big joke, until, that is, it all becomes very real, and the unfriendly nature of others shows its ugliest face. Morocco-Clarke's narrator is a believable young girl, and what's more, she's an interesting young girl. Her function is purely to observe, and indeed that is all she does, but her personality (largely through her ties to the family) shows through, and this colours the narrative.

The Nestbury Tree is a well written story, and its plot, though predictable, does not suffer because of this. Ordinarily, a family made to suffer has within the story a reason for the suffering; in The Nestbury Tree this is not the case. Rather, we see a good family destroyed by evil forces, and there is nothing to do but wail at man's fate.

The Nestbury Tree by Ayodele Morocco-Clarke is a short story from StoryTime's publication, African Roar (edited by Emmanuel Sigauke and Ivor W. Hartmann). This review is part of a series intending to examine each story from the collection, in an effort to broaden awareness of both the project itself, and the excellent array of authors contained within.

Author	Ayodele Morocco-Clarke
Title	The Nestbury Tree
Nationality	Nigerian
Publisher	StoryTime
Availability: ---Amazon US

See Also

Reviews of other short stories from the African Roar Series