Once before humans were created, there was a great empire under the sea ruled by the fishes. It was so prosperous no one was poor or homeless. Everyone agreed that God created the fishes to rule the world everywhere they went. The fishes were known to have the most successful businesses all over the world.
Many times other nations travelled long distances to learn how to make their own kingdoms great like the Fishes’.
At a certain time, in honour of the fishes’ king, the Great Paul – the first fish created by God who had died that year; the empire declared a seven-day mourning ceremony. This was to be followed by seven days of feasting. There were plenty of food and entertainment.
The occasion attracted many animals – great and small, from as near as the creeks of Africa to the mighty green oceans. Even the dreaded Esu ‘the devil’ was invited. Everyone agreed the king was a benevolent person while he was alive and so deserved a large funeral ceremony.
To prepare for the occasion, many events were enlisted to make it the talk of the continents of the world. It was suggested that the chief priest in the empire lead the guests to a special tour into the rich hidden secrets of the empire. Each secret was held into specially-built rooms beautifully decorated with iridescent gemstones.
Of all the rooms, one room stood out in particular. According to the tradition of the fishes, no one but the chief priest was allowed to enter this room. Even the chief priest did this ritual only once a year.
The room was rumoured to hold the rarest treasure in the world called the black gold. The people of the fish empire called it it’s named simply because no one knew exactly what it looked like except that it was hidden in the darkest and coldest part of the underwater empire.
And so after the mourning, the feast began. The invited guests went into these rooms under the guidance of the chief priest. They were in awe of the great wealth held in each of these rooms. Every visitor had a camel-load of questions about the richness of this special room.
As expected, even Esu had highly intelligent questions. It was clear that the visitors were visibly excited and these made the Chief priest greatly pleased.
The chief priest was proud of his prowess as a guide. He wanted to impress his guests, even more, to tell how respected he was in the Empire.
Shortly, he made up his mind to extend the tour of the guests to the most secret part of the Empire. The room filled with the black gold.
As he led the crowd, he spoke eloquently about the hidden treasures and its power which was responsible for the wealth of the empire.
Meanwhile, at the end of the crowd of people, little did the chief priest know some of the visitors were secretly planning to steal some of the treasure in the room. The chief of these plotters was Esu ‘the devil’ himself.
Esu had also been known to perform all manner of tricks. Everyone knew he was quite clever and could easily outwit his opponents in difficult situations.
The next day when the party was supposed to end; suddenly, Esu and his wicked army rode into the kingdom and ransacked the entire empire. The wicked army went straight to the room filled with the most precious treasure in the whole world. They plundered the secret rooms containing the black gold, carrying all treasure in a fleet of vehicles.
In the end, they turned the entire empire into a wasteland. They burnt the king’s magnificent palace and took all the royal children of the fishes away as their captives. No one escaped their attack, not even the chief priest of the empire who had foolishly shown the visitors the way to the most guarded secrets in the land.
Many years later, the descendants of Esu would be seen dumping harmful chemicals, garbage and poisons into the remaining part of the underwater empire.
The beautiful empire has become a land of destruction filled with a foul-smelling grave of dead fishes.
The end
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Note: Esu(Yoruba) literally means the devil; however, in Yoruba mythology, he is one of God’s servants created to carry out the will of God (blessing or punishment).
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