His Majesty's Trial

By: Janvier Chouteu-Chando

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

When the debased Njoumen seeks sanctuary in his grandfather's royal palace, her number one concern is her mental health. As she glosses in her recovered status as a princess and unleashes the full force of her free-spiritedness, her unfamiliar ways make her the source of attention. But nobody has an idea of what would make her contented in life.

That is until she engages her grandfather the king. What she wants most is a man to make her feel fulfilled in life, a sense of worth her husband never stirred in her bosom.

So, when three years later, Njoumen's dejected husband challenges this dignified king in a French administrative court for marrying off his unhappily-married granddaughter; we see a clash of occidental and African cultures that is unprecedented in the land.

Did the African king break the law of France, the new colonial master, by exercising his royal prerogative?

"His Majesty's Trial" is the fifth story in the short story collection entitled "The Usurper: and Other Stories". It precedes “The Dowry”, and is sequentially after “The Oaf”.