ORESEGUN AND THE MERMAID

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Long Time Ago in a village called Alagboja. There was a drunkard called Oresegun. Many people believed that he inherited his drinking habit from his father, while some believed he was cursed by his father second wife because of his father’s love for him.

Oresegun was a talented and famous artist in Alagboja Village. Although he is a drunkard and still single at age 38, other artists still envy him because of his good works. On one Sunday morning, Mr Emgrin, a white man who lives in Lagos but based in Germany came to Alagboja Village to look for a land to start his cocoa farming. He was directed to the king’s palace. The king agreed to give him land in the village after their discussion.

Two weeks later, the king invited his chiefs and Mr Emgrin to his palace for a feast. During the feast, Mr Emgrin saw a large portrait of a young girl and he asked, who snapped this? “It was painted by Oresegun”, the king replied. He painted it when my only daughter drown in the river. Mr Emgrin could not believe his eyes because he never thought someone could paint and make it look so real like a photograph. He asked the king about Oresegun and he said he will like to take him to Germany.

One of the chiefs, Mr Gbola was angry because his son is an artist and his works are also in the palace but they were not recognized. He planned to kill Oresegun that night so he ordered some thugs to do so. The thugs went to Oresegun’s house to carry out the task. They tied Oresegun and threw him into the river. He was dying, suddenly he was untied and he opened his eyes. Surprisingly, he saw the king’s daughter that drown and died in the river sometime ago. He looked at her and he observed that she is half human and half fish. He was scared but she said to him, “don’t be scared because I am here to help you. Chief gbola is behind my death and he also wanted to kill you because of jealousy. I will show you the way out of here”. She took him out of the river. He reported what happened to the king and the king ordered for the arrest of the thugs. They confessed and Cheif Gbola was stoned to death by the villagers.

Oresegun stopped drinking and he was taken to Germany to continue his Art work.

Featured Image by: Oresegun Olumide
Written by: Emgrin Rowland

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