The eye of Nkrumah
Kwaku and Kofi arrived late, and to their disappointment, Agya Ahor was nowhere to be found. Their peers were all mingling and chatting with each other.
"This old man is something right. I guess he was waiting for all his students to arrive before he started the lesson," said Kwaku. He looked at Kofi to see if he also expressed such a thought. Kofi was looking elsewhere as usual. Kwaku shook his head and just mumbled.
Kofi will never change. His mind is always somewhere else and never contributes much to any topic their group was discussing. He only saw the risky and fearful part of everything. He was the coward of the group. He thought. Kwaku searched for the rest of his friends and found them. He nudged Kofi and pointed in the direction of Kwesi and Akosua.
"Let's go join them, Kofi," he said and they walked to where their friends were.
Kwesi and Akosua saw them approaching and Kwesi smiled while Akosua just rolled her eyes. Kwaku was not surprised at her actions as she was the no-nonsense type of their group. They arrived and sat beside them. Kwaku sat at Kwesi's side while Kofi sat at Akosua's.
"Good day, my friends. How long have you guys been waiting for the old man?" asked Kofi sheepishly. Akosua hit the back of Kofi's head so hard that he almost fell from his seat. "Did you just call me a guy you he-goat? Do I look like a guy to you? How dare you? If you call me a guy again, I will rip out your tongue," yelled Akosua. She stood up and held Kofi by his throat. Kofi's eyes nearly popped out of his skull due to the fear he was feeling. He looked at the angry brown eyes and scattered black hair of Akosua. Her bony jaw was now more visible and her black lips were drawn into a snarl. Kofi could see the anger she was exhibiting. She was not joking. Kwaku quickly intervened. He ripped Akosua's hand from Kofi's throat and forced her arms behind her back. Akosua was shouting and cursing him to let him go. He didn't. "If you don't calm down, I will never let you go. Do you want to strangle our poor fat Kofi? Look at him Akosua. He can't even breathe well. If he wasn't dark, his fat cheeks will probably be red from too much blushing. " he said to her.
Kwesi patted Kofi’s back until he caught his breath. “There was an eighty percent chance that Kofi here would have suffocated to death had Kwaku not intervened. We are all frustrated Akosua because Agya Ahor is late but you need to calm down and stop acting like that. You could have suffered a heart attack due to high blood pressure which could lead to death when not well treated. And also...”
"Enough with your lecture Kwesi. The last thing I need is you bombarding me with your intelligence. Let me go Kwaku Ananse. I am fine," said Akosua angrily. Kwaku released her and she sat down. Kofi quickly stood up from his seat and pleaded with his eyes to Kwaku to change positions with him. Kwaku stood up and sat beside Akosua while Kofi rushed to sit in his place. Kwaku was about to reprimand Akosua when Agya Ahor walked into his compound. He went somewhere and he was sweating so much. He approached them and sat down. The canopy of trees they were sitting under for their lesson was enough to cool him down.
"Forgive my lateness, my students. I was called to the palace. Let's begin today's lesson. We have been learning about how our ancestors migrated to this land and how they changed the name of our kingdom from Nsuo to Nkrumah. Today we will learn about something else. Who has ever wondered why we studied different things from different people, and why every citizen of the village has only one career he is allowed to do after education even if he is good at others?" he asked the students. There were so many raised hands. He straightened his posture and addressed them again.
"When we arrived in Nkrumah, only a few people were skilled in the arts we all learn today and as such, the king decreed that the youth be separated to learn all the arts from the few people who still had the skills. We had lost so many of our people to war and famine, hence we needed to rebuild quickly. The youth were separated. Some learned farming, others fishing, and the rest learned fighting, music and dance, medicine, engineering, history, culture, and the rest of the arts. This enabled us to rebuild quickly and as a result, this decree is still with us," he paused to watch the reaction of his students. Some were nodding their heads in understanding and the others were just looking at him with their mouths open, probably in shock.
“Now, who has heard about the eye of Nkrumah?” he asked. No one raised his hand. Kwaku and his friends looked at each other, and Kofi asked Kwesi if he had heard of it.
“If you have, tell us Kwesi. You are the one with all the knowledge.” Akosua also asked.
"I may know many things Akosua but I have never heard of the eye of Nkrumah," said Kwesi. They all looked at him in shock. Kwesi always knew everything. He was their information bank. If he didn't know this, then it might be well-hidden information.
"Let's pay attention to what Agya Ahor will say about the eye of Nkrumah," said Kwaku.
Agya Ahor smiled at his students. "I am not surprised you haven't heard about it. It is not a very spoken thing. The eye of Nkrumah is the third eye of the king of all our gods. The great Nkrumah himself. The eye is a precious gemstone that reflects the colours of the rainbow when light falls on it.
He gave it to us after we arrived on this land. The eye helps our crops to grow well, heals our sick, enables us to win our wars and it has helped us excel in so many things. The eye is also believed to grant immortality to its wielder. It is also the life source of every princess who is born into the royal family. As long as the eye remains in the land of Nkrumah, the princess shall still have life but if the eye leaves the land, our princess may lose her life. She is the eye in human form. She is a direct link to Nkrumah himself. When things become tough, the chief priestess gives the eye to the princess, and she uses it to ask Nkrumah for the solution since she is the only one who can communicate with Nkrumah directly. The chief priestess has not been granted the privilege of communicating with the king of the gods. She only communicates with the lesser gods. If the eye is taken from this land, we shall lose everything. So only the chief priestess knows about the location of the eye."
"Agya Ahor, has the eye ever been used by our princess? She is the same age as us." asked a student. "The princess has used the eye before young one. The reason why she did so will be the lesson of another day," he answered. He saw that Kwaku, the son of Agya Nimo, had raised his hand. He has heard about the things he and his friends have been doing in the village. How they had been helping the villagers find their missing items as well as helping the soldiers solve arguments that occurred between the villagers. He smiled fondly and gestured for him to ask his question.
"Agya Ahor, has there being rumors about the location of the eye. If so, then what do these rumors say?" asked Kwaku. Every student turned his or her attention to Agya Ahor. It was clear they all wanted to know what these rumors said. "It was rumored that the eye of Nkrumah is located in a cave that only exists in the forest of Nkrumah. No one knows the location of this cave. Only the chief priestess knows. Not even the king is allowed the privilege of that knowledge. It is so, to prevent a king from becoming power-hungry and claim the eye for himself hence denying him the chance of gaining immortality. I hope I have answered all your questions. I shall end the class here. See you in three days. You are dismissed." said Agya Ahor. He stood up and left for his hut. Kwaku and his friends watched the bald old man, who had a very long white beard, as he made his way to his hut.
"Kwaku what is the plan? How do we find the eye?" asked Kwesi. Kwaku wasn't surprised by his friend's question. The moment he asked the question, his friends knew he wanted to find the eye. He was always ready for an adventure. "This is a very bad idea, guys and lady. The forest of Nkrumah is very dangerous and besides, we were just told the eye can't be found. If we go, we might be attacked by wild animals and probably evil spirits. Let's mind our business." said Kofi. Akosua hit his head again and Kofi screamed in pain. "Why are you always so scared? I don't even know why you are our friend. You are a weakling. You deserve to be in diapers you fat baby," said Akosua and she rolled her eyes. Kwaku just laughed and asked Kwesi a question. "How many times does the chief priestess frequent the forest?"
"I overheard my father a month ago concerning what you just asked. He said she visits the place every Thursday to collect herbs. But I suspect she also uses the time to check on the eye, " Kwesi answered.
"That is a possibility. Since today is a Thursday, we are in luck. We shall visit the shrine and trail the chief priestess as she makes her way to the forest. No one should make a noise. Be as slow as possible. We will collect stones before we go. Should you step on a branch, the priestess will hear the sound and suspect she is being followed. So throw two stones in perfect repetition. This will make her think it was an animal. We will continue to do so until she leads us to the cave. If we succeed friends, this will be the best adventure we had ever had." said Kwaku.
"What do we do after we find the eye? Do we tell other people?" asked Akosua.
"Of course not Akosua. We keep the information to ourselves. Should our land suffer crises and the priestess dies, and it keeps long to find a successor, who will find the eye for the princess? We will then find it for her and become heroes," answered Kwaku. All of them imagined the fame and glory they would have should such a thing happen, except Kwesi. He frowned at them. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The gods will never allow such a thing to happen. I suggest we go now before the priestess leaves for the forest," he said and collected his stones. The rest of them did the same and left for the shrine.
When they arrived at the shrine, the priestess was clearly on her way to the forest. She had her bag made with animal skin on her back. She wore her white dress as usual and had white powder on her face. Her hair was tied into a bun, and she wore no footwear. She left her hut and made her way to the forest. Kwaku and his friends followed her silently. They entered the forest and the strange sounds sent chills down the spine of Kofi. He stopped moving when he heard a scary sound and started sweating profusely. His friends were still following the priestess and he couldn't make a sound. His heart was beating rapidly. He feared the scary sound he heard was that of a wild animal.
Akosua realized Kofi was not following her when she didn’t feel him behind her. She stopped walking and turned back. She saw Kofi standing like a statue. He was shaking so hard and sweating all over. She sighed heavily and whistled to get the attention of Kwaku and Kwesi. Kwaku made a hand gesture, asking her what the problem was. She pointed behind her and they all saw the state Kofi was currently in. He was probably having one of his fear episodes. Kwesi gestured with his hands that the priestess was moving further away from them. Kwaku whispered to them to go help Kofi and then hurry to catch up with the priestess. They agreed and approached Kofi.
"What is it Kofi?" asked Akosua impatiently. This boy was the weakest boy she had ever met. Kofi looked around him again and he heard the scary voice.
"I…think…there…is a…wild animal…here," he said, stammering. His voice was filled with fear. Kwesi heard the sound he was referring to. It was quite scary but it was the sound of the smallest bird in Nkrumah.
"This is the sound of the smallest bird in Nkrumah Kofi. Didn't you identify the sound?" he asked.
Kofi calmed down and listened to the sound again. He realized Kwesi was right. It was the sound of the bird. He looked at his friends in shame and realized he had let his fears get involved in another mission again. They forgot about him since he was now calm. They continued on the path to catch up with the priestess. She was nowhere in sight. They arrived at a junction. There were two paths in front of them now, as well as a thorny bush. One of the paths was on the left and the other on the right. Akosua grabbed the collar of Kofi and shouted in his face.
"This is all your fault. Why do you always let your fears ruin everything you plan to do? When will you ever grow up? I am so sick and tired of you. You overfed he-goat." She pushed him to the ground and left all of them there. Kwaku and Kwesi helped Kofi up and helped him clean up.
"Akosua is sometimes right you know. You shouldn't let your fears control you. Let's go. We shall meet at the shrine and trail the priestess another day." said Kwaku and they left the forest of Nkrumah.
Author: George Ewusi Mensah
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