These tales are not from a tell-tale

BY ANIEFIOK ESSAH

 “A man’s true wealth hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellow man”, Mohammed told us. “When he dies, people will say ‘What property has he left behind him?’ but angels will ask WHAT GOOD DEEDS HAS HE SENT BEFORE HIM”.

Human desires! Insatiable quests! Unbriddled appetites! Oliver Twist! Many times we want to say, “Just a little more…more…more. What a little can not do, much can. What money cannot do, more money can”. Wisdom teaches us when to say, “Enough”. But not everybody is wise. I want to tell a couple of tales for people with “anger”. I want to tell tales to inhumane, unconscionable, selfish, greedy and unity-shattering people. I want to show differences between the real winners and locum tenens. I want to remind looters or thieves that Buhari (the Stone Lion) is coming to buharize them.

Yours Aniefiokly is not a spy, a squealer, a secret agent, a give-away, snake-in-the-grass, nor a fleering tell-tale, if I may say like the valiant Casca of the “Speak, hands, for me” fame. I am a writer with the truth that sets people free. Years ago, I used to write every of my articles as a fable or an allegory. I can recall an honorable member of AKHA telling me that I used to write “symbolically”, “figuratively”, “diplomatically” or “tactfully”. What he meant is that I used to write “dodgingly”, without mentioning names, to avoid the wrath of a tyrant, despot or what Fella described as V.I.P (Vagabond In Power). He was right and wrong because, till today, I like using folklores to illustrate, portray or back up my writings. I even use my local dialect which our Commander Andy said makes me “a local champion”. 

Whether I write metaphorically or satirically, certainly the reader knows whoever or whatever I write about. Take it as a sign of cowardice, if you may. But if Jesus the Christ spoke parabolically, why shouldn’t I, his younger brother, emulate him? Here are a couple of tales…..As you read them, a word to a witty head is superfluous. Owo eke enyenede utong ndikop, yak okop. 

Earlier, I had written THE ACHILLES HEEL, a famous story that reminds us that every human being has a place where he can be hurt, and that even the strongest men on earth need to be aware of their own vulnerability. I had also written THE TOWER TO THE MOON which portrayed a king who one night, letting his thoughts drift beyond the shores of his kingdom, got it into his head that he would like to touch the moon. “Why not?”, he asked himself. 

“I am king. What I want, I get. I want to touch the moon” He commanded his carpenters to bring boxes of every shape and size. When he climbed but was few metres to reach the moon, he yelled at the carpenters, “You fools! You are wasting my time! Take out the first box and bring it up now!”. The carpenters shrugged. “This is a very stubborn king”, the chief carpenter said. “I suppose we must obey his command”. So, they pulled out the bottom box. You don’t need to be told the end of the story.

Sometimes people with high titles get high notions of themselves as portrayed by the afore-told tale. But a title is no guarantee of real leadership, even if your name is “King”. Serving the interests of those who follow is the true crown of leadership.

I tag this other story THE STONE LION. Have you ever been to the banking layout, off Udoudoma Avenue? From the Central bank to the Diamond bank there, you will find a round-about with the statue of a woman pouring out coins. Thumps up to our father who art in Akwa Ibom – Arc. (Obong) Victor Attah. I want to tell a story about cash, okuk, eko, kudi, owo or “rascal counters”. Money, money, money! A medium, although full of germs, that is too popular.

Ekong nke-e! Once there were two brothers who lived with their mother in a large house. Their father was dead. The older brother was clever and selfish, but the younger was kind and gentle. The older brother did not like the younger because he was honest and would never cheat to get the best of a bargain, so one day he said to him: “You must go away. I cannot support you any longer”. So, the younger brother packed all his belongings and went to bid his mother goodbye. When she heard what the older brother had done, she said: “I will go with you, my son. I will not live here any longer with so hard-hearted a man as your brother”.

The next morning the mother and the younger brother started out together. Toward night they came to a hut at the foot of a hill. It was empty except for an axe, which stood behind the door. But they managed to get their supper, and stayed in the hut all night. In the morning they saw that on the side of the hill near the hut was a great forest. The son took the axe, and went up on the hillside and chopped enough wood for a load to carry to town. He easily sold it and with a happy heart brought back food and some clothing to make them both comfortable. “Now, mother,” he said, “I can earn enough to keep us both, and we shall be happy here together”.

Day after day he went out and cut the wood, and at night carried it to the village and sold it. And they always had plenty to eat and what they needed to make them happy and comfortable. One day the boy went farther up the hill than he had ever gone before in search of better timber. As he climbed up the steep hillside, he suddenly came upon a lion carved from stone. “Oh!” thought the boy, “this must be the guardian deity of this mountain. I’ll make him some offering tomorrow”.

That night he bought two candles, and carried them to the lion. He lighted them and put one at each side of the lion, praying that his own good fortune might continue. As he stood there, suddenly the lion opened his great stone mouth, and said: “What are you doing here?” The boy told him the story of his hard-hearted brother, and how he and his mother had left home, and were living in the hut.

When he had heard the story, the lion said “If you’ll bring a bucket here tomorrow, and put it under my mouth, I will fill it with gold (i.e money) for you”. Remember the woman at Ibom banking layout pouring out money in shiny coins. The next day the boy bought the bucket and put it under the lion’s mouth. “You must be careful to tell me when it’s nearly full”, said the lion, “for if even one piece of gold should fall to the ground, a great trouble would be in store for you”. The boy was very careful to do exactly as the lion told him, and soon he was on his way home to his mother with a bucketful of gold.

They were so rich now that they bought a large, beautiful farm, and went there to live. Eyen eti ibuot, everything he undertook seemed to prosper. Kpukpuru se enye anamde oworo usung. He worked hard and grew strong; and before many years had passed he was old enough to marry and bring a bride to the home. But the mother still lived with them, and they were all very contented and happy.

At last the hard-hearted brother heard of their prosperity. He too had married and had a little son. So, he took his wife and the little boy, and went to pay his brother a visit. Yes, success attracts people, failure repels. It was not long before he had heard the whole story of their good fortune, and how the lion had given them all the gold.

“I will try that too,” he said. So, he took his wife and child and went to the very same hut his brother had lived in, and there they passed the night. The next morning he went out with a bucket to visit the stone lion. When he had told the lion his errand, the lion said: “I will do that for you, but you must be very careful to tell me when the bucket is nearly full; for even one little piece of gold touches the ground, great misery shall surely fall upon you”.

Now the older brother was so greedy that he kept shaking the bucket to get the gold pieces closer together. Maybe he remembered the Bible portion that says, “Give, it shall come back to you good measure, pressed down and shaken together”. Because he never “gave”, when the bucket was nearly full, he did not tell the lion, as the younger brother had done, for he wanted all he could get. Suddenly one of the gold pieces fell upon the ground. “Oh,” cried the lion, “a big piece of gold is stuck in my throat. Put your hand in and get it out. It is the largest piece of all”.

The greedy man thrust his hand at once into the lion’s mouth and the lion snapped his jaws together. And there the man stayed, for the lion would not let him go. And the gold in the bucket turned to sand and stones.

When night came and the husband did not come home, the wife became anxious, and went out to search for him. At last she found him, with his arm held fast in the lion’s mouth. He was tired, cold and hungry. She comforted him the best way she could, and brought him some food. Every day now the wife must go with some food for her husband. But there came a day when all the money was gone, and the baby was sick, and the poor woman herself was too ill to work. She went to her husband and said: “There is no more food for you nor for us. We shall all have to die. Oh! If we had only not tried to get the gold.

The lion was listening to all that was said, and he was so pleased at their misfortune that he began laughing at them. And as he laughed, he opened his mouth, and the greedy man quickly drew out his hand, before the lion had a chance to close his jaws again.

They were glad enough to get away from the place where they had such ill luck, and so they went to the brother’s house once more. The brother was sorry for them, and gave them enough money to buy a place, and there the hard-hearted brother took his family and lived. The case of “reaping what you sowed” and the last becoming the first or vice versa. Have you (dear reader) learnt a lesson on shame as the high cost of pride? Nsuhode-idem ebem ubong iso, Baba.

Let me conclude this piece with a story I entitle FORTUNE AND THE BEGGAR: One day a ragged beggar was walking along from house to house. He carried an old travelling bag, and was asking at every door for a few Naira to buy something to eat. As he was grumbling at his lot, he kept wondering why people who had so much money were never satisfied but were always wanting more.

“I know the owner of this house well”, he said. He was always a good business man, and he made himself wondrously and uncommonly rich a long time ago. Had he been wise he would have stopped then. He would have turned over his business to someone else, and then he could have spent the rest of his life in ease. But what did he do instead? He took to building ships and sending them to sea to trade with foreign lands. He thought he would get billions of Naira, Dollars and Pounds.

“But there was great storms on the water. His ships, like that of Seignior Antonio – the Venetian Merchant, were wrecked, and his riches were swallowed up by the waves. Now his hopes all lie at the bottom of the sea, and his great wealth has vanished like the dreams of a night.

“There are many such cases. Men seem to be never satisfied unless they can, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, take over the earth or gain the whole world. As for me, if I had only enough to eat and to wear, I would not want anything more”, the poor man whined. I am writing about a man who left Lagos with borrowed cellophane and leather bags via a night bus to Uyo to come and take up an appointment. Just at that moment, Fortune came down the street. She saw the beggar and stopped. She said to him: “Listen! I have long wished to help you. Hold your bag and I will pour this money into it”. Don’t forget the money-pouring woman at the banking layout. “But I will pour this money only on this condition”, Fortune told the beggar. “All that falls into the bag shall be pure crisp notes, but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust. Do you understand?”

“Oh, yes, I understand”, said the beggar. “Then be careful” said Fortune. “Your bag is old, so do not load it too heavily”. The beggar was so glad that he could hardly wait. Owo idiok itong, he quickly opened the bag, and a stream of beautiful notes was poured into it. They were wrapped in the highest denominations. Cool Cash! The bag soon began to grow heavy.

“Is that enough?”, asked Fortune (Ado Ok?). “Not yet” (Idoho OK?). “Isn’t it cracking? (Nko ibomoke?). “Never fear” (Mpo idehe). The beggar’s hands began to tremble. Ah! Uto okuk ada mi, akanam nkwe! I wish the money rain would only pour forever!

“You are the richest man in the world now!”
“Just a little more”, said the beggar. “Add just a handful or two”
“There, it’s full. The bag will burst at its seams
“But it will hold a little more, just a little more!”
Wraps after wraps of money were added, and the bag split. The treasure fell upon the ground and was turned to dust. Fortune had vanished. The beggar had nothing but his empty leather bag and cellophane of clothes. The bag was torn from top to bottom. He was as poor as before. How are the mighty fallen?!
Have you learnt a lesson or two? All’s well that ends well.