A girl in a compound house* loses her phone in broad daylight. About ten people were close enough to have filched the phone. A day steals by, and the phone has not been found. The ‘Landlord’ calls a house meeting. There is fulsome denial all round, and free-flowing suspicion-spiel. In the middle of the din, the victim takes a white egg from under her clothes, calls on a deity with a disturbing name to slay the thief, and shatters the egg on the floor. Two of the cruellest accusers immediately drop to their knees, and confess to the crime in rapids and waterfalls. The Landlord prevails on the girl to revoke the murderous curse. She calls for a bowl of water with a charcoal chip in it; this she sweeps over the egg remains. Then, there is peace. The curse is revoked. Is everything really that easy? I lost a pocket calculator I really loved seventeen years ago. I want an egg right now!
* Compound House - A house with a walled compound and several detached or semi-detached rooms or apartments usually given out for rent.
I don't know if it works or not but it scares the hell out of people who believe in it.
ReplyDelete@Abeeku: a curse works, for real.
ReplyDeleteNana Yaw, it was that easy to revoke the curse? Either the lady is a fetish priestess or something else because most people who curse do not know how to revoke it or maybe the deity she made mention of does not really exist.
17 years? Too late...not sure those guys have the capacity to look that far into the past. ooops! Seriously, the curse may have been fake...considering the easy revocation....but the thieves obviously weren't taking chances. Wonders.
ReplyDeleteInstant curse, instant revoke, sounds perfectly logical to me! I love this story because it shows that superstition is 'true'. Especially when it's your superstition.
ReplyDeleteOK, let me put my head on the chopping block.
Christianity has failed in Ghana, perhaps because it is someone else’s superstition - the Jews.
With its message of a God that has transformed from the vengeful, genocidal, infanticidal and jealous being in the old testament, to one that is only good and loving (the old Gods were capable of both good and bad which is why you had to be on your best behaviour!), to the promise of forgiveness for crimes and that judgement day will be coming (think 'coming' in Ghanaian terms!), and the hope that God might 'consider' by the time it arrives, and we have a message for disaster.
But it's good to know that the God of Ghana has not totally been chased away by the jealous One from Israel and that He still has the power to enforce moral behavior!
Watch out NY, an egg is cheaper than a lawyer (and it seems a quicker) when one wants to get possessions back from thieves :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting...and the discourse from GG. I also think the invocation was fake.
ReplyDeleteMy take on superstition; you are what you believe.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, the revocation was too easy.
ROFLMAO!!! This has made my day. I too think the curse was fake. I agree with Tetekai. Most people who evoke curses do NOT know how to revoke them. It should not have been that simple.
ReplyDeleteI think we ascribe the the forgiving God when we're the ones in the wrong...but God forbid someone should cross us cuz that's when we look for fire and brimstone to rain down upon them.
Human beings are such a fascinating race lol
Eggs and incantations! How far do they work? I dont really know.
ReplyDeleteRecently a kebab seller's meat was stolen off his grill while he was not looking. He confided in me(cos' im just an all round nice guy) that come next week Friday the culprits will come to him begging. Today is Wednesday. Honestly, I can't wait.
I'm loving the rendition though.
@ KFC, please keep me posted. You've got me intrigued lol
ReplyDelete@ Abeeku:
ReplyDeleteWhatever will scare a thief to return my property is fine with me...almost :p
@ Tetekai:
You've taken apart the scenario, and I agree.
@ Kwame M-B:
Same thing as Abeeku. If it works on criminals, then please bring it on.
@ Graham:
"But it's good to know that the God of Ghana has not totally been chased away by the jealous One from Israel and that He still has the power to enforce moral behavior!". Interesting comment. There was not even only 1 God of 'Ghana' at that. There were many.
Speaking of influences, I see that your 'British' spelling has been chased away by American. :p
@ Kajsa:
That's a simple, clear truth. An egg is cheaper than a lawyer. Probably more effective in terms of success rate! :)
@ Myne:
Now I feel compelled to state clearly that I also think curse was fake. :)
@ Lucci:
I also believe that you are what you believe. Striking coincidence of beliefs between us.
@ Daixy:
You're so right that when we are in the wrong, we wish God to be forgiving and loving, but when our neighbour wrongs us, we want 'God' in one of his many cultural manifestations to strike somebody dead.
@ KFC:
Please tell us: what happened that Friday? Come on!
Arrggh, nana Yaw, thanks for pointing out about my deviation from correct spelling. I blame the beta version of firefox which refuses to accept an English dictionary, instead imposing American imperialist spellings. I will immediately go for absolution and return to using additional letters in my words.
ReplyDeleteThanks for correcting my errors on the numbers of gods!