And it came to pass in Ogyakrom (1)
A Touch Of Nokoko
by Kofi Akumanyi
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And it came to pass in the reign of the great King Rollo of Ogyakrom that one fine morning he, who used to look like the other thin and hungry-looking mortals, tried to bend down and contemplate his feet. This simple act, to his great surprise, he performed with great difficulty. The King, after four years’ reign of terror, has of late abandoned his strict physical regime and taken to wining and dining and as a result increased his girth and weight so much that the multitude wondered why this could be possible when an economic pestilence, the likeness of which had not been seen for centuries, had assailed the whole kingdom..
But then the King of Ogyakrom was full of wisdom. He had surrounded himself with people of great learning whose advice he spat not at. So it was that the advisors told him to close his ears to the noises of the multitudes, go onto the top of the mountain and survey his kingdom and everything therein. So onto Mount Peduase behind the city he climbed with difficulty, accompanied by his faithful Centurions who followed him everywhere he goeth.
At the top of the mountain, he surveyed his kingdom and saw the multitudes of mere mortals; he beheld all the wonderful work he had wrought in the short period of four years that he had held power over the multitudes. Verily, he marvelled at the goods on the streets, especially the victuals which, in the early period of the great pestilence, were scarce and nowhere to be found. He also saw the scores and scores of "chariots", called "Tata", brought over from the far eastern country of India into the kingdom to help the multitudes who did not possess chariots of their own and walked many miles every day.
Having seen all these he turned to the Centurion to his right. Said he: "Verily, verily I say unto you the multitudes of Ogyakrom are men and women with hearts of stone. They see what I have done for them but refuse to bow down before me and kiss my feet. Yea, though they wave at me at the anniversary games, methinks some like me not."
"Oh, King Rollo, know not you that a great number of the multitudes of Ögyakrom hold you in great awe and fear?" the Centurion asked thus.
As he spoke great fear and awe ran down the spines of all who heard the Centurion speak for everyone gathered together on the top of Mount Peduase knew of whom Ogyakrom trembled when his name is mentioned. He is Tiko, an ex-centurion himself, and the powerful man behind the throne. He wields a powerful and mean axe on any mortals whose goings and comings he determines not to be in the interest of the multitudes. He also has a hand in who should fall from grace and who should rise from grass.
So bad was the pestilence on the land that the elders of the kingdom sacrificed a cow to the gods who dwelt on top of Mount Onipon. Some said that the pestilence upon the nation might have been brought by the King Rollo himselfIn truth, to get past Tiko to the King is more difficult than going through the eye of a needle. Thus it was that great iniquities are said to have been committed in his name and his silence has been interpreted in the authoritative "People's Grapevine", the powerful Ogyakrom media which transmogrifies rumour into fact, as a sign of great sagacity and mystery.
One of Tiko's iniquities which Ogyakronians still gnash their teeth and wail about is the wicked act of asset-stripping which the King introduced in the early days of his reign.
To begin with, the King, full of zest and ire about previous rulers of the kingdom, appointed Mr Assetstrippa in a radio and television (same translation in the scrolls) broadcast and said onto him: "Go ye forth into the kingdom from north to south and west to east and seek out every Ogyakromian with ill-gotten wealth. Forsooth, anyone you set eyes on whose manner of walking, eating, the chariot he drives etc, that do not tally with his known income, should be stripped. And rest not in your labours until all the wealth of the kingdom is ours to do as we will."
King Rollo had also promised the multitudes power of the land to which end they set upon all rich people and beat them. But the king continued to hold the power alone and the multitude unto whom great power had been promised by him did not like it. But King Rollo, full of the wisdom of Solomon, summoned the leaders of the multitude to the court yard one day and introduced them to one of the old men of learning in Ogyakrom and promised them that he would soon tell the whole kingdom how the multitude would rule themselves, whereupon a great silence fell on them all.
But not for long. In the days gone by Ogyakromians had not been happy about the high cost of food in the kingdom. Everybody remembered the period when for six months the sun bore down on the parched earth and not a drop of rain came down. Then the locusts swooped down on the land and devoured all the stored corn. So bad was the pestilence on the land that the elders of the kingdom sacrificed a cow to the gods who dwelt on top of Mount Onipon. Some said that the pestilence upon the nation might have been brought by the King Rollo himself, whom the gods had been mightily angry with for the bloody manner in which he returned to power.
While the pestilence persisted multitudes gave up the ghost and those who survived wore the King Rollo "chains" as Ogyakromians were wont to describe the skeletal remains. For, throughout these tribulations they were still full of mirth.
Then Abacus appeared and promised to save the Kingdom from sinking into the pits. Now who was Abacus? He was a man of great learning of the art of husbanding a kingdom's wealth. In the whole of the land many of the great learners had come to accept that Abacus had a manner of juggling figures which was a sight to behold.
Consider the money used by the people of the kingdom, cedi. It had been juggled by Abacus so many times that few wanted to own it inside or outside the kingdom. He did this after putting his great head together with the Money Lenders Council from across the seas, who also juggled with other kingdoms' money and after completely laying it to waste give them more money to do as they wished.
Abacus had done this by bringing into being new prices of goods, raised taxes on goods from outside the country, sent home workers who had no work to do, taxed sick people and verily caused more tribulation among all manner of workers upon whom power had been promised but not delivered by King Rollo.
(To be continued.)
