Chopping Off The Hydra’s Heads
BY DR. SAMUEL ADJEI SARFO
1. The defeat of the scavengers elevated my spirit and boosted my confidence, and I sought permission from Zarathustra, Teacher of Issa, to allow me to pursue the creatures into the sea, and to deal a final blow to their empty pride. But the Enlightened One restrained me, pointing out that the time had not yet come.
2. Zarathustra sayeth unto me: “ Hearken ye, Sarfo the Black, Doctor of law, Teacher of Lore and Maker of Folklore, know ye that thou art not yet equipped to descend into the deep blue see in order to conquer these wicked spirits. Bide your time yet for a season until I invest in you the power to swim and fight in the ocean. Until then, bide your time I say!”
3. Within me, I sought to strike while the iron was hot, but I could understand the concern and wisdom of Zarathustra. Besides, it dawned on me that I had no knowledge of swimming. I was born where the sun arose behind the mountains, far in the forest bed from the coast of the land once called gold, and swimming did not agree with my stomach at all.
4. I did not like to go the way of my friend Jojo Biney who, two weeks before his graduation from the university, swam to impress the white visitors and died in the attempt….
5. Seeing me lost in reminiscences over the past, Zarathustra sayeth unto me: “Come Sarfo the Black, our work remaineth undone. The kidney stones remaineth unremoved.” On these words, Zarathustra pried open the incision he had made on the beast, and removed its kidneys. With a hammer the size of a fist, he crushed the stones within the kidney.
6. He did not attempt to remove the stones because he thought they were stuck in hard places better handled with a hammer. Zarathustra said that the beast would pass a lot of urine upon regaining consciousness, and that was when the cure would come. Thereafter, Zarathustra sewed up the stomach of the monster.
7. “ Now for the heads of the beast, thou son of a woman!”
“What art thine intention Great Master.” Retorted I.
But Zarathustra did not answer. Rather, he took the second sword from the hand of the beast and hewed the first head of the monster. That head rolled in the sand, rose up in the air and began to utter words in a dialect strange to my ears, but I could decipher enough words to understand what it was saying:
8. “To me belongs the name Kumrahn, the first in my name and the breaker of the chains with which the white man bound my people. I forged the great nation out of the tribes of the land and gave it a new name. I am the builder of the roads, the schools and the dams. I am the builder of the new civilization. At the height of my power, I became a tin-god, and my effigy was on the coins of my people. For those who questioned my power, I built the largest fortress, in which I kept them prisoners.
9. Through education, I imprinted the image of my personhood in the minds of all the children, so they can betray their parents for flimsy acts of treason. I was a head for life without vice. I metastasized into a rogue leader and put the new chains on the people. That is why they spewed me out. I rise today to beg that history be kind to me, for though I was a rogue, those who came after me were worse.”
10. At the conclusion of his words, Zarathustra asked me to seal its fate; I picked up the ninth sword and sliced the head in two, and to my amazement, Kumrahn’s head was full of trash, the unfinished business of the one ready to imprison many and shed innocent blood. I cast it into the pillar of fire burning by the seashore, so that the generations will cease celebrating a rogue as their hero.
11. Then Zarathustra cut the second head with the third sword. The head rose and declared in a somnambulist’s tone: “I bear the name closest to the continent. My henchmen and I saw the ambition and stubbornness of Kumrahn, that he was preparing to subdue the land forever, and put the people back in perpetual chains.
12. The people cried for a savior, and so we descended on Kumrahn, when he went abroad to make peace in the east. We overthrew his power and banished him from the land, giving back to the people the chance to be reborn.
13. We are no criminals, and yet when the history of the land is recounted, Kumrahn’s followers make us look evil. We returned the country to the rule of the people. How come we are castigated as the culprits of history? “
14. At the conclusion of his words, Zarathustra asked me to seal its fate; I picked up the fourth sword and did what the Teacher asked, and to my amazement, that head was full of stolen gold, bearing the insignia of the masses’ taxes, that which were pilfered to build a whole new town. There were also the imprints of the betrayed one, an ethereal personage crying for justice for a lost cause. I cast the head into the pillar of fire burning by the seashore, so that the generations will stop celebrating a rogue as their hero.
15. Then Zarathustra cut the third head with the fifth sword, and that head began to speak scholarly words from all the big books of the land. His name sounded like the gravels when the river passes over them, and he held me spell-bound with the excellence of his mind. His head rose midair and began straightaway to utter excuses in defense of himself:
16. “I did nothing untoward to be made a burning sacrifice today; it was the overweening ambition and stubbornness of Kumrahn the great , the one who would be king forever, which caused the warriors of the land to take away his power. I was like a midwife to the tranquility of the land; I was trying to forge an alliance with the remnant wise to stop confusion from descending on the land.
17. But when I began to lead the people, the same warriors who had tasted power and would not let it go, they stopped me from imposing order and cut my reign short. I have done nothing to be made a burnt sacrifice today.”
18. At the conclusion of his words, Zarathustra asked me to seal its fate; I picked up the sixth sword and sliced the head in two, and to my amazement, that head was full of the spirit of inertia- a do-nothing spirit that referred to the scriptures of the west even when our people needed food to eat.
19. His was a head full of theories, and although they were good theories, they were not useful in solving the problem of the land. There were also the imprints of the betrayed judges, who said the leader disrespected justice. I cast the head into the pillar of fire burning by the seashore, so that the generations will cease celebrating a rogue as their hero.
20. And lifting the seventh sword, Zarathustra cut the fourth head, already oozing blood from the gashing wounds inflicted by the eighth head who was a belligerent creature still uttering blasphemy on the martyrs of the past.
21. This head’s cries were pitiful, it rose and looked me directly in the eye and asked: “Must I also suffer the death of the one already killed? I saw the scholar rule with too many theories in his head and no practical solutions to the ailments of the land. I led the soldiers to take power from a weakling. In my time, food was in abundance, and the nation saw growth in its wealth.
22. People said I slept with too many women. Which man does not sleep with too many women? People said there was too much corruption. To the one who is not corrupt, I say let him cast the first stone! Those who judge me for corruption, what will they say to the present rape of the land? Those who cut me off at the prime of my life made more mess than me, and they are guilty of a greater crime.
23. At the conclusion of his words, Zarathustra asked me to seal its fate; I picked up the sixth sword and did what the Teacher asked me to do, and to my amazement, that head was full of the spirit of corruption- too much money given to the paramours when our people needed food to eat.
24. His was a head full of graft and ennui. He was preparing to hang on to power forever and concocted a deceptive scheme, but his henchmen betrayed him and overthrew him…... I cast the head into the pillar of fire burning by the seashore, so that the generations will cease celebrating a rogue as their hero.
25. El qui tiene el conocimiento, le permitio interpretar las cabezas que fueron cortados, porque simbolizan cabezas de la nacion, y su historia es la historia de la tierra.
Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Law, is a private legal practitioner in Austin, Texas. You can email him at [email protected]