The Curse of the Three Virgins

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I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to @gertu for organizing this beautiful contest and to the entire CCC community for creating such a welcoming space for storytelling. This contest brought back memories and gave me a chance to reflect on the lessons I learned growing up. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to share and connect through stories that carry wisdom, culture, and emotion. Thank you for keeping our voices alive.

When I was growing up, my grandmother told me a story that still haunts my heart.
It was about three childhood friends: Chioma, Chika, and Chisom. They were inseparable. They did everything together, fetched water from the stream, helped each other on the farm, cooked, and played.

What made them even more special was a covenant they made: they vowed to remain virgins until marriage. That promise was their bond. Parents in the village used them as shining examples for their daughters.

But one ugly day, something terrible happened.

The girls were walking to the stream, laughing, singing, and enjoying the evening breeze. Suddenly, five huge men—warriors from nowhere—jumped out of the bush and grabbed them.

They screamed. They cried for help. But no one came.

The five men raped them, again and again until they died.

The whole village was thrown into sorrow. Their parents searched everywhere. The villagers joined in the search. It was a group of hunters who finally found their bodies, already decaying, deep in the forest.

The elders and mothers cried bitterly and cursed the wicked souls who did such evil.

But that wasn’t the end.

Years later, the village began to suffer. The stream turned red like blood. Crops started dying. Male children fell ill and died mysteriously. Famine took over the land.

The elders consulted the gods.
It was then revealed: before the girls gave up their last breath, they held hands and pronounced a deadly curse on the land, that there would be no healing for what was done to them.

The gods confirmed the curse would remain forever, because the covenant of purity was broken in blood.

What I Learnt From My Grandma’s Story
My grandma always said, "There’s no advice as rich as a mother’s." From this story, I learnt that purity, loyalty, and sisterhood are sacred treasures and when violated, the consequences go beyond the physical. I learnt that evil may hide, but justice never sleeps. The tears of the innocent will always speak, even from the grave. And most of all, I learnt that a mother’s words carry more than wisdom, they carry warnings meant to protect generations.

Never break a sacred promise made in innocence, for the cry of a pure soul echoes louder in the ears of the gods.