By Jeremeeh Kousse
Jeremeeh Kousse is a playwright. A storyteller and a comedian.
He is also a crypto researcher.
From his collections:Tales from the Savanah 9.
In the remote village of Bagang Fokam, as old as time itself, there lived a young orphan named Koo Koo. He lost both parents at the tender age of six but inherited a sprawling homestead and a large expanse of farmland. His maternal and paternal families initially pledged to care for him, but after fifty market days, their promises faded into forgotten whispers. Koo Koo, barely more than a child, found himself alone and desperate, wandering to neighboring kingdoms in search of sustenance.
In his travels, misfortune seemed his constant companion. Koo Koo was kidnapped twelve times and sold into slavery an equal number of times. His final master was a Greek baker, a man who had ventured to Africa in search of diamonds, gold, and timber to export to Europe. Despite the harshness of his circumstances, Koo Koo worked diligently. One fateful day, his master, moved by the young man’s resilience and spirit, handed him a letter of affranchissement, granting him his freedom.
Returning to Bagang Fokam at the age of fifty-two, Koo Koo found his childhood home unrecognizable. His uncles had seized all his lands, leaving him with nothing but an old, dilapidated hut by a small river. They often said, with bitter laughter, “The day Koo Koo comes back to live there, the water will take him away for good.”
Weary and resigned, Koo Koo settled into the humble hut, cultivating the small plot of land beside it. One day, while bathing in the river, he noticed a shiny object beneath the water. Curiosity piqued, he reached down and discovered a large nugget of gold. Astonished, he realized the riverbed was teeming with gold.
Koo Koo’s first thought was of his former master, the Greek baker who had shown him an unexpected kindness. He invited the baker to Bagang Fokam, and together they surveyed the river. The baker, knowledgeable about precious metals, confirmed that the river contained one of the largest gold reserves in the world.
News of the discovery spread like wildfire. The once-forgotten Koo Koo found himself at the center of a burgeoning fortune. With his newfound wealth, he reclaimed his ancestral lands and transformed Bagang Fokam into a prosperous community. The river that once held his fate became a symbol of his resilience and enduring spirit.
Koo Koo, now an elder, lived out his days in peace, surrounded by the prosperity he had wrought from the waters of his homeland. His story became legend, a testament to the strength and perseverance of a young orphan who, despite overwhelming odds, forged a legacy of hope and renewal.
