the Balance of Good and Evil

Many years ago I came across Femi Osofisan's Èṣù and the Vagabond Minstrels and till date, it is still my most favourite read ever. I cannot count how many times I have read the play from start to finish. Not just of how gripping and relevant it was then. It remains relevant till this day. It remains relevant in every facet of life.

Before I proceed with this story, I wish to stress that this piece in no way endorses a belief in the occult. This is but a reference to a profound work of art by one of the greatest writers to have ever done it.

The story within the play tells of a band that had once been highly placed. A musical group that once wined and dined with the high and mighty of the society. But as it most often is, a change of government led to a fall from grace for the group. A Pharaoh was now in power who did not give a hoot about their Joseph. To make it worse for them, their association with the corrupt politicians had implicated them and all their assets had been seized and accounts frozen. They were now scrounging from town to town in search of what to eat and where to lay their heads.

Their desperation grew and grew and it led them into accepting help from an old man that surfaced from nowhere when they settled to rest at a crossroads. His offer was simple: he gave them power that could restore their good fortunes. The power given to them involved healing whoever they came across, in exchange for promises of riches. All they needed to do was to make the suffering person sing and dance along with them. Whatever the person's pain, it would end. He however warned them not to misuse the power if they didn't want to be punished. It sounded easy enough but unknown to them, it was a test.

Èṣù, the lord of the crossroads, it was who disguised himself as an old man to set them this test. He wanted to see whether between compassion and greed, they would know the road to take. Whether between hollow material wealth and the unseen riches of tenderness, they would know which call to heed.

Soon enough, the first test came along and it was a wealthy man who was in desperate need for a child to inherit his fortune. He had all a man could wish for in life, but the ability to father a heir. The most daring of the minstrels, Epo Òyìnbó, quickly claimed the wealthy man. Promised to make him like a banana whose tree dies to be reborn, as long as he could dance along with him - like the old man had instructed. But it was not before he had secured material rewards and promises of even more from the man. That was the only condition that would make him help the impotent man. He didn't really care about the man's suffering, he just needed to be rich again.

The second test was a woman, looking really wretched. She had been pregnant for nine years and had come to the crossroads offer the only thing she had left - supplications to Èṣù. Since nobody had been able to help her, she came to plead with the lord of the crossroads to take her and let her be able to finally rest from the unending suffering. Seeing that the woman had nothing to offer, all the other minstrels were not interested in helping except Omele who showed compassion and against the “advice” from his friends, offered to use his power to help the woman. The poor woman even stressed that she was never going to be able to repay him. But all Omele really wanted was a small "thank you" from the woman. All that was left for her was to try and sing and dance along as Omele sang with his friends in the band.

Stay with me, I will conclude the story in my next release. Till then, stay caring.