This haunting Calabar folktale tells the story of Ituen, a handsome young man, the only child of poor parents. Each day, he scavenged food at the market to help his family survive. His beauty, however, caught the attention of Queen Attem, the young wife of King Offiong. Longing for a youthful lover, she secretly invited Ituen into her chambers, showering him with food, clothes, and wealth.

For a while, their dangerous affair went unnoticed. The queen even sent lavish gifts—slaves, rods, yams, and cloth—to Ituen’s mother. But whispers spread, and soon the king’s servants discovered the lovers together. Ituen was seized, tried before the people, and condemned to death.

The punishment was brutal: the Egbo executioners cut off his lower jaw and tied him to a tree to die in agony. The queen wept openly for her lover, which enraged the king further. She and her servant were dragged to the same place, where the queen suffered the same fate as Ituen, and the servant was blinded before all three were abandoned to die.

As a final decree, the king forbade anyone from Ituen’s family from ever entering the marketplace or scavenging food again. Only the vulture and the dog were spared this law, which is why—according to Calabar tradition—they remain the scavengers of the markets to this day.

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