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As a child, one of the times I enjoyed the most was the time for stories.
Then, my grandparents, especially my grandfather would gather me and my other young relatives to tell us folktales.
One of my favorites is the story of Akiti the Ghost and even though I had read it in a book before, I still loved it when he told us.
THE STORY
In the land of Awe, there lived a man, his wife and two children.
The man, Mr Adewale Akiti was a very lazy man who rather than work would prefer to sit and while away time.
While not in his favourite palmwine joint drinking, he would be in front of his house gisting and playing games with his friends.
His wife kept complaining and begging him to be a man and look for a job to be able to pick some bills, but he refused.
As a result of this, she was left to fend for the whole family including him.
This was extremely stressful and despite her hardwork, she would have little or no money remaining after paying for their upkeep.
One day, she got a new job that brought in a lot of money. She brought the money home and she rejoiced with her children.
While this was going on, Akiti came in and asked for his share of the money. She refused to give him anything and he left the house angrily.
After celebrating, Mrs Adewale kept the money inside her cupboard, she was oblivious to the fact that her husband saw her keeping the money, and he later went in to take it.
Three days later, she went to the cupboard with the intention of taking out the money to pay the school fees of the children, but she could not find the money.
She searched other places but could not find anything.
As a result of that, the children were sent out of the school and this made Mrs Adewale very sad, but Akiti did not care.
The next month, when Mrs Adewale got her money, she kept it again at home and it disappeared just like the previous one.
This made her conclude that the thief was a ghost since no one knew how the thief was able to come in and get the exact place she was keeping it. So she went to report the matter to the king in the land.
The king called his wisemen, and they had a discussion on how they would catch "the ghost" when Mrs Adewale gets her next pay check.
The next month, Mrs Adewale kept her paycheck in the cupboard as usual and went out.
A few minutes later, Akiti sneaked into the house and went straight to the cupboard where the money was kept.
Unknown to him, his wife, children and some other neighbours were watching quietly in their hiding spots.
He came out a few minutes later, and they all pounced on him.
They derobed him and discovered that their ghost was no other person but Akiti.
This made everyone present angry, and they descended on him and gave him a thorough beating after which they took him to meet the king.
On the way, some of the children formed and sang a song to mock him. The song goes thus:
Akiti the ghost
Akiti the uncaring father
Akiti the useless husband
Shame on Akiti...
And they kept singing it till they got to the king's palace.
As a result of his disgraceful act and the shame he brought to the family, Akiti was banished from the village, and he left shamefully, the minute he was sentenced.