A Story from Africa

Asese, the man of steel
Nobody knows to this day how he came to like drink so much; all that is known of him was that he was cursed by the gods to labour. And like everything done by the gods they cursed him with enough strength to labour. He was the type of a man who wakes up in the morning and starts to work until the sun is down. They said the gods cursed him with labour so once the sun is up the curse starts manifesting until the sun goes down.

He was called Asese, the man of steel, because he never gets tired. He has enough strength to work across the clock. Like many others in village, he was a farmer. Nobody can compete with him in anything that has to do with farming. He has the largest farm in the nineteen villages in the province of the king has it was called.

They said he was cursed by the gods when he drank the palm wine that belongs to the gods. He was returning from his first farm as a boy on a very hot after. Asese was very hungry and was almost fainting by the time he got to the shrine of Elelule, the sun god. While he was resting in the hut by the shrine he saw a man sacrifice a keg of fresh palm wine to the gods.

Asese watched the man turned his back and went for the wine. He drank it all. It was then the gods placed a curse on him. And since it was the sun god, the curse is only active during the day. The man works like a machine. Once it is day, he can’t rest. He has to work from dawn to dusk, from Monday to Sunday, without stop. He doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t get sick. He was indeed a man of steel.

He must walk once the sun is up, this was his curse; the only moment of peace in his life was at night. Asese has acres of farm lands. He cultivates all manner of crops. He has plantations in every forest. This made him very rich. But like every man cursed by the gods, he looks demented and weird, for he was a drunk. He never looks sober. But no matter how drunk he maybe, once the sun is up he will start working like a machine.

One day the king called all able bodied men in the 19 province to come and work in his farm. Men from various villages gathered to help the king. Asese was drunk when he arrived and it was already noon. He looked at the plot of land and divided it into two. He picked half and before the men could plough half of the half he gave them he was through with his half.

When he lifted up himself he greeted the king who was with the men who were drumming for the workers and asked if he can take more wine. The king was dumbfounded. He has never seen a man like that before. He looked weird but he was indeed a man of steel. And like most king who love bravery and strength, the king gave the weird looking man his daughter and large acres of land to farm.

Asese the man of steel married to the king’s daughter. It wasn’t a thing of shame to the king, but that of pride. Besides, if Asese can but be sober he is the richest man in the province by virtue of his products from the farm. The king was a wise one, he only gave Asese his daughter so that he can have the wealth of Asese which he cannot manage.

Asese’s fame grew far and wide after he married the king’s daughter. The pretty woman did everything to make him sober, all to no avail. She soon gave birth to four children, a girl and three healthy sons, but Asese was far from being sober. This man of steel doesn’t have to buy drinks, even though he can pay for it. All he does is go to the source of drinks, the very tree where the wine tapers are tapping their wine and drink from there.

As his fame and wealth grew so were his enemies. Gruesome men who don’t want to hear of him. Men who would allow him cultivate a land and then declared that it belongs to them. Of course he was a man of steel. He is a drunk not crazy. He always has a way of getting back what belongs to him.

However, one day Asese, the man of steel went to farm as usual, stop by palm trees where wine tapers are tapping their wine and empty kegs of wine into his stomach. He got to the farm and started to walk as usual. But the man of steel wasn’t steel any more. He started vomiting blood and those closed by rushed him home. Before he could get home he died. The man of steel was poisoned. He drank from the wine that was used as trap for him by his enemies.