African hero

There was once a little village called Okoropo. It was a beautiful land where peace reigned and there no trace of evil. The people were good and kind to one another. They shared what they had and everyone was their brother and sister’s keeper. In the rare occurrence of a disagreement, the village head intervened and the issue would be forgotten quicker than it had started. This was the way they lived for many years until they had a visitor who came from another village.

It was a quiet evening and all the residents of Okoropo village had turned in for the night. Mr Tantemaru was not only battered but tired, hungry, thirsty and filled with anger. Tantamaru was on the run from his Kokoniti village which was the direct opposite of Okoropo village. His village was filled with evil people who possessed no moral fibre in their being which is why neighbours did not trust themselves. They locked their doors at night and carried weapons to protect themselves. They robbed, cheated, maimed and even killed themselves. Living in the village was like living in the jungle as the name of the game was survival of the fittest. Tantamaru who was no angel was a regular thief and paedophile which made him thrive in his village but then he made the biggest mistake imaginable in the village. He raped and killed the village head’s only child and since the head was the most powerful man in the village, he asked that Tantamaru’s male organ  be brought to him on a platter. On hearing this, Tantamaru fled the village with only the clothes his back.

He had journeyed the wilderness for six weeks with very little food and even less water. It was already dark that day and Tantamaru was too weak to move and right before he fell into deep unconsciousness he believed that he had come to his end. As he lay on the ground barely conscious he heard a sound, too weak to turn he thought the creatures of the night were preparing to feast on him and a small tear trickled down the side of his face.

Then he heard voices, two men speaking to themselves. ‘The Chief’s men have finally caught up with me’, he thought to himself as they grabbed a hold of him and lifted him, at this point he drifted into deep unconsciousness resigning his faith to the unknown.

Light pierced through Tanatmaru’s eye lids as he opened them. He looked around and did not know where he was. He was in a hut with the sunlight coming from the open entrance. Last he remembered, he laid down to die and was carried back to his village by the Chief’s hooligans! He got up immediately to escape before they became aware of his consciousness. As he got up, an elderly woman he had never seen before came in smiling and this puzzled him. She spoke to him in a language which he did not know, when she saw that he did not understand, she demonstrated that he lay back on the bed to rest. However Tanatamaru refused and said thank you as he got up with a whimper because his body had not thoroughly recovered from the agony it had been put through. He left the hut and there was a clearing with people up and about. Women were by the fire cooking and laughing. Some men were building while others were bringing in game from the forest and the children were playing around. This was unlike anything Tanatamaru had ever witnessed. Immediately he was noticed, two men rushed to him with smiles literally carrying him back into the hut and upon the bed clearly insisting that he rest. Tanatamaru who was a lazy man thought about the perks he would enjoy and decided to do as he was told. Food was brought to him and he cleared his plate in no time for the food was rich and delicious.

In the following weeks that Tanatmaru stayed at Okoropo village, the villagers stayed true to themselves by being his keeper and sharing all that they had with him, in all his years he had seen no such thing and could not get over his amazement. Unfortunately, Tantamaru also stayed true to his character and started thinking of how he could take all that the villagers had for himself. This was going to be tricky because one man could not over power an entire village alone which led him to the conclusion that he needed reinforcement and the only place he could get that was his village of Kokoniti. If he could just get to the village head and give him a peace offering which would be half of what they obtain from Okoropo village. The man would forget the atrocity he had done to his daughter in no time.

Bright and early in the morning one morning, he said his farewells promising to visit sometime in the future and he started the long journey back to his village. Tantamaru walked fast and rested only at night. He was also very excited and this made the journey even shorter. He was seized as soon as he stepped foot in the village, robbed by the villagers of all he had been given at Okoropo and then carried to the village head. As soon as he was before him, he begged to speak to the Chief alone for he had important news to give that would bring wealth. Instantly everyone was sent away and Tantamaru narrated his story of the people of Okoropo. The Chief listened with rapt attention as Tantamaru told him is plan and they concluded that they would prepare for the attack on the village. No one was happier than Tanatamaru for he could buy his freedom with half of what was obtained unknown to him, the village head chief had other plans for as we know, the wicked never forgets.

To be continued.

Oluwaseyi Lawal