Short story: Otoolege, the lazy man
Papa Amuzu was a successful farmer who lived together with his son, Anku, in a village called Giddikope. He started as a subsistence farmer who cultivated cassava, shallots and yams for his own consumption.
However, with time, he realised he had produced more than enough so he decided to sell the surplus.
Advertisement
He saved the money and when he had a substantial amount, he purchased additional plots of land and ventured into cultivating cocoa, wheat and corn.
He made a lot of money from this. His farms offered employment opportunities for most of the young people in the town. He was always ready to help the young people in the town once they approached him for a job. Papa Amuzu would do everything possible to find work for the person.
Otoolege was one of the inhabitants of this town. He had the physique of a weightlifter. Unfortunately, he used his size for the wrong things.
He bullied others and took things that did not belong to him. He terrorised everybody in the town. Apart from that, he was a lazy man who did not like to work. He had a few boys who followed him everywhere and they were also part of his dirty activities. The surprising thing was that although he was not employed, he always had money and wore new clothes.
In fact, there were rumours in the town that he was a thief. However, because they didn’t have evidence, no one was able to accuse him. More so, they were afraid of him.
It got to a time when Papa Amuzu started losing some of his farm products. Initially, they were in small quantities so he did not pursue the matter.
Later, the thief stole in large quantities. What happened was that sometimes when their store was full, some of the products which were harvested were kept on the farm till the store was free.
That was when the so-called thief stole the produce.
Papa Amuzu was disturbed because if he continued to lose his produce that way, it would affect his finances. He had a feeling that the thief was an inhabitant of the village who knew that farm very well, but it was difficult to catch the culprit.
He decided to deal with the person when he or she was caught. He consulted a friend, Agya Amekor, who had also suffered a similar fate. Agya Amekor advised that they set a trap for the person on the farm.
They, therefore, dug a big pit close to where the farm produce was kept. The pit was dug in a way that made it difficult for anyone who came there in the dark to notice. Indeed, one night, the thief came there again to steal the tubers of yam.
He brought a sack to put the tubers of yam in. After the thief had finished with his operation, he started to cart the sacks of yam into a waiting vehicle.
When he took a few steps, he fell inside the big pit. It was a great fall and, therefore, created a loud noise. He screamed painfully when he hit the bottom of the pit and was heard by many, including Papa Amuzu.
Knowing very well where the noise was coming from, Papa Amuzu asked his farmers to follow him with their torchlights and lanterns. When they got to the pit, a light was flashed on the face of the thief and lo and behold, there lay Otoolege still groaning in pain with a sack of yam by his side.
When asked where he got the sack of yam from, he buried his face in his palms and couldn’t answer the question. The crowd would also not let him go.
They started throwing stones at him and cursed him for all the harm he had inflicted on them.
When Papa Amuzu realised the people were getting agitated and could lynch Otoolege, he quickly called the police and Otoolege was taken to the police station.
The humiliation he went through was enough to send signals to the young people who followed him to change their behaviour and find decent work to do so that they did not fall into the same trap. We should all work hard to be able to live a decent life in future.
Gloria Peprah,
Oriens Complex School,
Amanfro.