THE CALABASH OF WISDOM

In a village called Arabanbo ; many years ago , all human and animals lives together in peace and harmony, that is, there was co-existence between human and animals. Every being goes about their own business without intercepting themselves.

One day, the tortoise, who is known to be a very crafty animal sat on a bamboo chair in his hut. He looked towards his thatch roof; immediately something tickled in his mind, he wants to become the wisest man in the world; he thought about it for a while and decided to visit the, he want to become the wisest man in the world; he thought about it for a while and decided to visit the ifa oracle. The tortoise concealed his plans, he never shared them with his family and friends of his plans, he felt very soon, he will gain dominion over every living creature. He set out on the journey to meet in the nearby village.

When he reached his destination, he explained his troubles to the shaman who after listening consulted the oracle and a solution was provided. A huge calabash was given to him and he was instructed to hang it on the top of an iroko tree, where he will be the only person to have access to it.

The tortoise was so elated that he gave the shaman a handsome amount of money. He embarked straight into the sacred forest to hang up all the wisdom of the world, for his own personal use. When he got to the tree he intends to hang the calabash of wisdom, he looked around and boast, saying, very soon, the entire being will be fools and I will be the only wise person existing.

He tied a rope on the neck of the calabash and clinched to the tree to start climbing; but he did something strange, he wore the rope on his neck and the calabash was sitting comfortably on his chest. Every effort he made to climb amount to futility. He was frustrated, cursing himself for not being able to climb the huge tree where the calabash of wisdom will be hanged. He spent seconds, minute, hours and days but zero success was recorded towards his effort to hang the calabash of wisdom.

Unknown to the tortoise, the frog has been watching him make his futile effort towards climbing the tree with the calabash, the frog shouted!! at the tortoise saying, tortoise you are foolish, you can never have a successful climb if with the calabash on your chest, place it on your back and you shall find it easy to climb the iroko tree. Having heard these words statement from the frog, one of the least personality in the entire village, the tortoise felt disappointed in itself and his calabash that he smashed it on the ground. He cried home bitterly cursing himself and said truly, no man can covert the wisdom of the world all for himself.

DIDACTIC OF THE STORY
From the story we can deduce that no man is an island of wisdom. It is not in a disposal of a single man. No matter how advanced you can be, don't look down on your fellow human, every person has something to contribute. Never look down on your subordinate, every person is blessed in their own accord.

Greed has led to the downfall of many great men and women, I implore us to be contended with whatever we have. There is no single man on earth; who have acquired everything they wished, if you make the earth; the heaves is not certain yet.

IFA ORACLE

Ifa oracle is a great deity in the western part of Africa, it is a god of divinity; it is a pious and impeccable deity. Ifa as an oracle stands as an intermediary between man and the almighty God called olodumare. For divination, healing, consultation and the likes, they make use of cowries and other material including bones to forecast and foretell future and necessary healing process. The worshippers of ifa wears white cloth and white beads and walk on bare-foot.

There is also what we call ifa panegyrics, and some incantations to be cited before the connection can be created between the god called ifa and any man. Ifa is a divine god, it never aid the wicked, neither can it be worshipped by a callous fellow. Any person mentioning ifa for an evil act shall face the wrath of the god.

THE END

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