Ghanaian Folktales: 01/12/2020 - Obedience is better than sacrifice, the Story of Ama

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Once upon a time, there lived a family of three, father Gyau, mother Gyamfuaa and their only daughter Ama. They lived in a town called Wuche township named after the great river Wuche which bordered the town and all the surrounding towns. Before one can come into this town they had to cross this river. Now there were days that was not permitted for one to go to farm or cross the river and thus travel in general, the day was sacred to the river and so no one was expected to go against this long standing rule as the river was also known to protect the towns people.

All individuals who went against the rule never came back from their trips or journey, it was believe that the river flood it banks when people go against this tradition and takes them away or drown them. Because of this everyone was meticulous about this however Ama was a recalcitrant child, in as much as the parents tried to bring her up right and to teach her and protect her from harm she was in a hurry to be her own boss and do her own thing and so when Ama learnt of this tradition she ignored and deliberately decided to test the theory as to whether is true or not.

On this faithful day, Ama left he home without the parents notice or awareness and decided to cross the river to the next town, the path which they use to go to the next town was such that one can easily walk and cross and so Ama started crossing the river. When she got to the middle the river started increasing in quantity and before she could do anything about it, it has rose to her neck and was slowly drowning, the power of the river was strong such that she could not even swim to escape and so realizing what was about to happen she started singing.

Moa moreko no, moa moreko no, mo k) mose agya, mok) mo nna, fa kosua mmienu, fa bra wuche, na wuche de me k) which translates as those of you going, please tell mum and dad to bring two egg to the river Wuche for it is taking me away. It was believed that if individuals were found early enough and two eggs were sacrificed to the river their lives would be spared, but Ama was not lucky and the river took her away.

Ama lost her life due to disobedience and cost her parents a lot, the moral of the story is just as the title says, obedience is better than sacrifice. Had Ama listened perhaps she may have still been alive and well, and so lets learn to listen to our parents for they know better and wouldn't want any harm to befall us.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day