Lost While Carrying the World

He had relished being given the task. They said, "Ndegbo, you are the one. Among all the tribes, the elders have settled on you. You are the one who can take care of business. You are the one who can shoulder the world and carry it somewhere safe. Please say yes you will do it!"

And he had said yes. With all his heart. And he had tried to do it. But the weight had grown heavier day by day, mile by mile through the tangled forests. Not only that but he found himself changing. His body became less flesh and blood and more like the woods through which he walked ever more slowly. Till one day he came to a halt. With all his heart and his last ounce of effort he strove to go on, but it was no good. He was frozen where he stood.

"Ndegbo," he said to himself. "Very well. You have tried. You have given your all. So there is nothing to regret. And now your journey is done."

They say the world was lost with Ndegbo. But no one really knows. There are those who think it waits somewhere and those who think it doesn't. And there are those who still dream of Ndegbo, and in their dreams beseech him to come home and bring the world back with him. But he never answers. This is the myth of Ndegbo.

15 October 2021
Texas Jim
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca