The lost gem
Far away in a village called Badukrom lived a King whose name was Osagyefo Barimah Kofi. He was a very kind and generous king.
The king had two sons — Asare, the elder son and Okyere, the younger. Knowing very well that by custom his elder son had to succeed him as the next chief, he often taught Asare the traditions of the village and also how to become a good leader.
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Sadly, however, unlike Okyere, Asare did not live up to expectation. He was very lazy and loved to be served and pampered because he believed it was his right as the next person in line to the throne. Asare bullied and punished people at the least offence and that created fear in the people about him.
The unroyal attitude of Asare became a headache for Osagyefo Barimah. Asare deserved the throne because it was his birthright as elder son but the people did not like him.
Should he bypass him and give the throne to Okyere without any tangible reason, that might also create a rift between the two brothers and he did not want his sons to be fighting each other when he was gone.
After painstaking thought, one day while seated on his throne, he called his two sons and in the presence of his elders, told them that he wanted to change the tradition with regards to the selection of an heir to the throne by assigning a task. The one who is able to do the task would become the next chief.
He said the task involved they going to look for the lost emerald gem that once lay in the middle of the palm of the hand statue in front on the palace. The gem brought good luck to the people of Badukrom.
He showed them where they would find it. The king gave them three days to return with it.
The following day at dawn, the two brothers set off for the task ahead. They decided to go their separate ways using two different paths which both led to Asempa, where the gem is believed to be hidden in a cave.
On the way to Asempa, Asare met an old woman carrying a huge bundle of firewood. The old woman stopped Asare and asked for help but Asare declined and continued his journey. On his way, he came across a sparrow trapped in a net cage but he did not help it.
By night, he was tired, therefore, he decided to rest in a small cave he stumbled upon.
Later that day, Okyere had also met the old woman carrying the firewood. He had gladly gone to her aid. The old woman was very grateful for his kind gesture and decided to help him to find the gem by giving him a sack of sand, an arrow and instructed him to sprinkle it into the eye of a beast he was going to meet in the cave. On his way, he also met the sparrow trapped in the net cage.
He immediately freed it and fed it. Apparently, the sparrow was not an ordinary creature so for showing kindness towards it, the sparrow decided to lead Okyere towards the cave.
The sparrow told him that the gem could be found in the cave of the beast and in order to retrieve it, the beast had to be defeated. Because it was very late in the night, he rested for the night.
At the break of dawn, Asare who laid at the other side of the cave had woken up to see a huge ugly brown- furred beast ready to attack him. He tried looking for his sword but realised he had dropped it.
He became very scared and started to scream for help. Due to the noise he made, the beast jumped on him and scratched his face with his claws.
His screams woke Okyere from sleep and he followed the sound to where Asare was. Luckily, just when the beast was about to pounce on him, Okyere arrived there and took out the sand the old woman had given him and sprinkled it into the eyes of the beast. The beast got distracted because he could hardly see anything. Okyere used the opportunity to stab the beast with the arrow the old woman gave him.
The beast fell dead right in front of Okyere’s feet. He decided not to look for the gem because he felt his brother’s life was more important. He immediately rushed to Asare’s aid and carried him all the way to Badukrom where he was treated. Okyere told his father and the elders all that had happened in the forest and why he couldn't bring back the gem.
Asare recovered from his wounds but was left disabled in the right hand. Okyere told him how he was able to kill the beast with the things the old woman had given him. He also mentioned the help the caged sparrow gave him by leading him to the cave.
After his younger brother had left, Asare thought hard how all this would have ended well had he also been nice towards the old woman and the sparrow. He decided to change his attitude from that day.
Dillys Chrystal Afful,
Achimota Senior High School,
Accra.