Zong Midzi and the Quest for Immortality

Zong Midzi is a mythic hero.

Zong Midzi of the land of Oku is engaged in a struggle with Angone Endong of the land of the immortals, Engong. Nkudang, an Engong woman with many suitors, is in love with Zong Midzi, though she has never seen him. But she knows that he is faithful to his wife, Esone Abeng. Nsure Afane is a youth who loves Nkudang, and as the two warring sides get closer he senses disaster. He takes Nkudang back to Engong, pursued by Zong Midzi, who seizes and beheads the woman. Nsure Afane beheads Zong Midzi's wife, then soars through the air on a magic ball and returns to Engong, carrying the two heads. Akoma Mba, the ruler of Engong, is watching these proceedings in a magic mirror. A decision is made that Nsure Afane should die, but he escapes on the mystic ball as Zong Midzi destroys his village. There is a pitched battle between the two, and when other Engong enter the fray Zong Midzi must escape under the ground to the safety of ancestral spirits. Four days later, with magic weapons, he returns, and the battles continue until Zong Midzi is blinded by some feathers. He is captured and taken to Engong, and the land of Oku is attacked. He escapes and returns to his ancestors, who begin to make him immortal. But their work is interrupted by Scorpion, sent by Engong, while Akoma Mba watches all in his mirror. Zong Midzi's move to immortality arrested, he is normal again, and his ancestors give him a magic gun. But a warrior from Engong overcomes him and brings him back to Engong, where he is divested of his magical ability, Akoma Mba makes him explode, and he dies. See also: Akoma Mba.