They had decided a long time ago to make life hard for their father. He had broken their mother’s heart, and though the twins had not been born then, some women in the village still hum the song, popular many years ago, about Lamang’s philandering before and after he had married their mother. The song, a ballad that grew in detail and complexity with each rendition in the moonlit village square, called Lamang the “King of Women / Owner of ten women / In every village from / Keti to the state capital.” The refrain described how women stood longingly on their doorsteps as he passed, and how mothers locked up their daughters at night to save them from “the handsome ravisher,” and ended with the lines:
Mother sighing with longing
Daughter sighing with longing
Ah, King of Women, show some mercy
