There was once a great kingdom whose fame spread through every corner and cave in the world. Everyone marveled at how rich and strong they were. El-Ghaba as it was called was made up of men whose strength were more than wolves and women whose beauty brought those of the Nubian princesses to ridicule.
It was said that gold was so much in abundance that it lost its value on the citizens. They bathed with gold, slept on gold, dressed in brighter shades of gold and used gold as cooking utensils.
How this kingdom came to be (was to be charitable) described as ludicrous. There was this mad man who had visions of a place where everything was gold – he recounted this story over and over again till it became annoying to the ears of those who constantly heard it. He said he saw in his visions a kingdom rise out of nothing to something even the gods wanted to wear as a crown. He had seen strange men – white in skin dressed in stranger clothes – coming from a land beyond the sea to see this great kingdom called El-Ghaba and loving it so much to the point of death. Not only was the story ridiculous, it was also pathetic! There was nothing like white men, the people said, all what there was were black faces everywhere and gods do not need gold to dazzle them because they created it.
There was however a group of people who took this tale from fancy unto fancy and set off to find the place the mad man had seen in his visions. Everyone told them they were chasing ghosts; they would soon reach, if they were even successful in their journey to nowhere, the end of the world and fall into a never ending pit and die from hunger, thirst and excruciating pain. This gloomy story did not tickle them. So with the mad man as their golden compass, they set off to find “Eldorado”.
They, after a month of walking and perpetually staying awake, saw this forest full of melancholic songs and ghosts! All what the birds in the forest sang were apocalyptic hymns and poems. The mad man said to them that this was the land he had seen. In order for them to believe it, they told him to show them signs that showed they were on the “Promised Land” – he told them of trees he had seen and by verification had indeed seen them after surveying the land.
High with expectation, they set off digging and hoping. They dug day and night and when their hopes had finished with their tears, they sat down and wept.
In annoyance, they decided to kill the mad man and not even the plea from the birds could mitigate for him. Suddenly they saw a huge and strange snake slithering towards them and they run! Just then, they heard a voice so clear and so strange telling them to come back. The snake was talking to them – only their abandoned gods could tell them how shaken they were to the bone marrow.
“The visions of the madman are truer than what you see.” the snake said while approaching them.
“I knew you would find me. You are my chosen people. Count yourself lucky to have embarked on a journey to El-Ghaba. I can give you gold and wealth beyond what you can contain in your romantic dreams only that there is a cost you must pay” it continued, still slithering and looking at their tired faces.
“From next ten years, you will have to sacrifice to me the most beautiful virgin in El-Ghaba. Every year after next ten years, I shall demand this and while you provide this, I will rain on you gold and an army so strong that even the mention of its name would bring your enemies’ gods to their knees. I will provide you with wisdom on how to build great buildings which will leave a mark in the sands of time; I will give you food, stable rains and everything you possibly will need. I will provide all these in exchange for a yearly sacrifice of a beautiful girl.”
The offer sounded too good to their ears and all their fears were laid down to rest. They agreed to all what the snake had offered without question. They called him Bida and built him a befitting abode in which he rested and harmed no one.
True to what it had said, they became rich so much that those who heard of their wealth were shaken. Those who earlier called their quest as a folly came to beg to live in El-Ghaba. They welcomed everyone and soon they became one of the biggest kingdoms to have ever lived.
Ten years came and Bida had to be fed. There was an argument about whose daughter was to be offered to the reptile. Not wanting to show any disrespect to the great serpent of El-Ghaba who had shown great mercies, it was decided that the choosing a “bride” for the great reptile should be done in turns, a clan was supposed to choose its prettiest daughter and offer it to Bida as a token of their appreciation and in the next year another clan will do same. For the seven centuries, this was done with no quarrels. El-Ghaba became a kingdom set on the knees of the gods.
It was during these prosperous times that a baby was born and as custom demanded was to be sent to the great priest for her future to be divined. Deep within, her parents wished her destiny would be beside a strong and wealthy king. The priest looked at the baby and stammered “A great nation will fall on her face and a greater one will come from her belly.” After divining, the priest went to the hut and bid the parents the best in life.
The prophecy was so strange that night after night the father spent time trying to decipher its true meaning. The baby was named Sia, nothing more, nothing else. It must be remarked that Sia grew from beauty to beauty, she put even the finest jewelries to ridicule, her voice was said to make the serpent of El-Ghaba smile. Her beauty made her parents sad that each day they wished a far beautiful one was born so that their daughter would be spared the misfortune of been sacrificed to Bida. Their prayers were never answered and they knew that it was only a matter of time that she would have to be offered to the great serpent for the prosperity of the kingdom.
As Sia was becoming of age she swept a strong handsome man, Amadou the Taciturn, off his feet. He loved her with a kind of love that made even angels jealous. Everyone warned him about loving Sia because such a love was like a stairways that led nowhere. You see, when love infects you, the only thing that can save you is death.
At sixteen, it was decided Sia was to be sacrificed to Bida. When Amadou heard it, he cried a cry never seen and written before. Sia was immediately tied to the chief priest’s shrine and given the best of food and treatment to make her more attractive to Bida. She was bathed in imported coconut milk and her skin was smeared with the best oil and fragrance from Arabia. Out of desperation, Amadou run to see Sia for the last time and upon seeing her vouched to help her. Sia cried and told him to forget about her because she was a helpless situation and no matter what he did she was never going to be in his arms again. Maybe that’s what the chief priest meant when he divined that “a greater nation was going to rise from her belly.” After her death, El-Ghaba was going to be far greater than it already is. Amadou looking at her in her depressed state made him love her more than his taboo.
On the eve before his love was to be swallowed by the serpent of El-Ghaba, he spent the night throwing his soul into despair. Then an idea struck his mind. When everyone was sleeping, he stole himself away and hid in a small hut near the pit where Sia was to be sacrificed praying for his god to be merciful and not let Bida swallow him before he snatched his love away.
The chief priest and the elders of the town formed a procession and carried Sia to the ritual ground. She was wrapped in a loincloth she had knitted a few months earlier for her wedding. As she neared her death, they called on the great reptile to come and take its sacrifice. They left her near the pit and surrounded the forest least she gets the slightest of chance to escape.
Bida rose from its pit with all its elegance circled its beautiful prey and lashed out its tongue in appreciation. She screamed on top of her voice calling for some respite but none was shown. All she heard were jubilations.
Amadou very much aware of the fact that Bida struck its beautiful bride on the third appearance kept still and watched the reptile in great anxiety. When Bida was ready to strike Sia, Amadou rushed out of his hiding place and cut off the reptile’s head. The earth trembled, it rained like never before, thunders flashed across the skies as if they were in flight to a safe haven and when it had subsided, a great voice from heaven remarked “For a long time, I have offered you wealth, rains and food. Now what I dreaded most in life has killed me. It was my wish to be the most beautiful thing in wherever I find myself. That is why I asked for the sacrifice of the most beautiful girl on a yearly basis. Now that I have been killed by your own, this will be your punishment; this great town will collapse, wiped away from the surface of the earth and shall not be known even in the memory of dry bones. For seven years, seven months and seven days I promise you that not even a single drop of rain will fall on your land, your rivers will dry up and by that time that this curse will pass, your city that was greatly desired will be a tear in a sandstorm never to be seen again.
Free from death, Sia and Amadou run away and married in a town so far away from El-Ghaba. They lived happily and gave birth to children who currently are the Akan people of modern El-Ghaba. Indeed the prophecy came to past, a great nation fell because of her face and a greater one came from belly. But the soul of the serpent is not satisfied and still looks upon the great Akan kingdom still wanting it to repay its people the pain Sia had put it through but love is so powerful and till love loses its strengthening care, the serpent of El-Ghaba can only look at them and weep because at the end of the day, it had lost.
Written by J.Y. Frimpong
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