Many of us were lucky enough to have grew up in an era of oral literatures,myths,folk tales, and proverbs. Of course in rural areas the expectation is that the existence or practice of the latter is still hefty.
The LKC library has a collection of African literature, which i have to admit is my favorite across all our collection. Five years ago, i had just completed my Cambridge and while awaiting my results, i came across an Anthology of short stories titled ' ENCOUNTERS FROM AFRICA'. The book is a collection of nine short stories from fourteen authors across Africa. Some of the popula authors from the book include of course my favorite, Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head, Grace Ogot and Ezekiel Mphahlele.
The first story i read in the book was titled 'Tekayo' written by Grace Ogot from land of the Maasai Kenya.
Tekayo is the story of a man who went to graze his cows out of his village. On the way he saw an eagle flying above his head with a large piece of liver on its claws, Tekayo robbed the eagle its piece of delicious looking meat and roasted it on a log fire and consumed the meat under the shade of the ober tree. As the sun got hot , Tekayo got overpowered by the heat and fell asleep under the tree while his cows chew the cud under tree shades. While asleep, Tekayo had a dream. In his dream, he sat before a log of fire roasting a large piece of liver like the one he had eaten earlier on.He found out that he could not wait any longer for the meat to be fully roasted so he removed the meat and from the fire and cut it up with his knife. Just as he was about to consume it he woke up.
Realising that it was just a dream, Tekayo became frustrated that he had to look around just to confirm that it was not just a dream. In him there was a burning desire to hunt for the animal whose liver was so delicious. On the quest to find the liver his mouth watered for, Tekayo came upon a baby wildebeest the next day at the forest.He killed the animal, skinned it ,extracted the liver and abandoned the rest of the carcass right there. Back at his head, Tekayo roasted the liver and took a bite once it was cooked, but did bot swallow. Instead, he spat it all out . The liver was bitter and nowhere close to the liver he had eaten the previous day.Tekayo became depressed, but determined to find the animal whose liver was so delicious. Tekayo hunted for many months in desperation to eat the so tasteful liver that he had once eaten. This craving changed the man he once was, he became a stranger before his entire family. His wife died, Tekayo lamented. It was during this time of grief that he decided not to hunt for this animal with the most delicious livre, but to stay home and take care of his family.
Once during a little sleep, his grand daughter stood beside Tekayo;s bed calling him, but when he woke up the little girl was no where to be seen.When he went to sleep again, the little girl showed up again calling for Tekayo, but the girl disappeared when he woke up. Now one of them days Tekayo sat warming himself on the morning sun. His grandchildren played and again the craving for the delicious liver was back. Tekayo had called the little girl he had dreamt about to get him some water in her mother' hut. In the hut, Tekayo strangled the life out of the little gil's body, and at a nearby anthill he extracted the liver and buried the body in a shallow grave. At home, Tekayo roasted the liver, ate it greedily and found out that it was just the liver he had been craving for all this time.
The story continues, i just do not want to spoil it any longer!it is undoubtedly a great African story that i have read over and over again. I just don't remember reading an African story and got disappointed. In the LKC Library we have great books by many African writers, stories which reflect our continent's rich cultural heritage.
I'm enjoying myself basking under the large scope of literature from the African continent.
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