The Seven Gifts

On the second night, she met the goddess's court.

They received her in a hall of living coral, with a ceiling lost in blue shadow. Mami Wata sat on a throne of mother-of-pearl, with a cluster of attendants round her feet: sea-nymphs in robes of sea-silk, an old turtle in a vest of woven seaweed, a pair of enormous octopuses who appeared to be twins. The air smelled of brine and incense.

"Child of the surface," said the goddess. "Do you find your accommodation satisfactory?"

"It's lovely. The bed is a clam."

"A very comfortable clam."

"It snores."

"He is old." The goddess smiled. "Tonye. I did not bring you here to be a prisoner. I brought you here to be a queen."