Patrick Achitabwino articles

Fiction excites a lot when it does not only just entertain but teach as well. One excellent piece of fiction writing that portrays what havoc greed can cause in the life of a human is a short story entitled ‘Tekayo’ written by Grace Ogot of Kenya.

Set in Sudan, the story talks of a grandfather, Tekayo, who after tasting a delicious liver dropped by an eagle; he is filled with a craving which gradually leads to his moral disintegration. This is portrayed in how Tekayo progressively cuts himself off from his own nature, from his relations, community and work. In murdering children entrusted in his care all just in the hunt to roast their livers and in his eventual suicide, he effectively cuts himself off, in life, death and for all time, from the community.

One exciting element in the story is how the author consistently shows the reader how greed can transform the life of a human. In one paragraph Tekayo is seen storming the Ghost jungle all just to hunt for an animal with a liver as delicious as the one that fell from the claws of the eagle.

Tekayo’s changing life due to greed comes in the limelight when he, all over a sudden, started leaving home early, refusing even to take lunch with him to the field where he grazed cattle. He would just take with him his hunting spear.

The grand man’s greed was so deep rooted such that his dedication to grazing and milking the cows started wearing thin. The author paints a clear image as follows: ‘while previously Tekayo could patiently graze the cattle, his life had changed. He rushed the cow along, lashed at any cow that lingered in one spot for long. Reaching at the edge of the Ghost jungle he would live the cows grazing unattended as he went hunting.’

At one point in the book a reader comes across a scenario whereby the cows headed home alone as Tekayo was lost in the Ghost jungle hunting for animals with delicious livers. He even risked his life to eat livers of a lion, leopard, and hyena, all of which were tabooed by his clan. Yet, he never came across meat as delicious as the one that fell from the claws of an eagle.

One master piece of literary writing is showcased in the story through the author’s ability to tackle irony in an interesting manner. After Tekayo killed his second grand child, his sons wondered: which animal can it be that was terrorizing their village? One of Tekayo’s sons even suggested that his aged-father might be in danger from the ferocious unknown beast just as the two children had been. In the end, when Tekayo is found out to be the ferocious beast that was killing the children, he is treated like an animal he had become; he is locked in a windowless hut built for goats and sheep. Even his clansmen chanted: ‘he is not one of us. He is not one of us. He is an animal.’

Another literary art one comes across in the story is that as the story is set in a rural environment, the author brings to light the people’s traditional customs and beliefs. At supper time, male members of the Tekayo family would sit together and eat. And in observation of traditional beliefs they would throw some food on the ground before beginning to eat; thus sharing the food with ancestral spirits.

We further learn the mode of communicating sad news in this rural setting. When Tekayo was caught trying to murder his third grand child, a big fire was set on the compound and drums were beaten to notify villagers that sad news had occurred in the compound.

The traditional justice system and how punishment is meted out in respect of traditional beliefs and customs is well articulated in how Grace Ogot explains how the community would treat Tekayo the murderer. Ogot explains: ‘everyone on the clan must throw a stone at the murderer, for it was claimed that the murderer’s wicked spirit would rest upon a man who did not help to drive him away. Tekayo would be stoned to death outside the village.’

What the author does not tell in the story is why Tekayo could not kill any of the cows and roast its liver and claim that it had been attacked by wild animals? Perhaps since cows were domestic animals, he might have had tasted many of cow livers and were not as delicious as the liver that fell from the claws of the eagle.

The way the author concentrates on the single theme of greed throughout the story coupled with the writing style used well-versed in imagery and irony, makes the story an excellent piece of work for teaching short fiction writing. Students pursuing literature studies at the tertiary level can as well learn some writing tricks from the story. It is amazing that the story explains hunting tricks perfectly though authored by a lady.

Tekayo is a story published in the Anthology of East African Short stories, edited by Valerie Kibera. The collection boasts of other excellent short stories like Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s A Mercedes funeral, Meja Mwangi’s Incident in the park, Barbara Kimenye’s The battle of the sacred tree, among many others.