Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- No Wings
- Preface to Second Edition
- Foreword to Second Edition
- Introduction to Second Edition
- A Note of History
- Should I Ever…
- THE COUNTRYSIDE
- AKAN
- EWE
- Ewe Poetry
- Akoli the Rich
- Poems of Eweland
- Down Below the Volta River
- GA-ADANGME
- DAGOMBA
- HAUSA
- THE TOWN
- The Contributors
- Index
Down Below the Volta River
from EWE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 August 2019
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- No Wings
- Preface to Second Edition
- Foreword to Second Edition
- Introduction to Second Edition
- A Note of History
- Should I Ever…
- THE COUNTRYSIDE
- AKAN
- EWE
- Ewe Poetry
- Akoli the Rich
- Poems of Eweland
- Down Below the Volta River
- GA-ADANGME
- DAGOMBA
- HAUSA
- THE TOWN
- The Contributors
- Index
Summary
Many years ago, a young man and his father were carrying gallons of palm oil, from Eweland, to Dodowa for sale. In their journey, they eventually reached the Senchi Ferry, and were put on the ferry-boat.
The young man, together with his friends, on board, went to the edge of the boat, and were looking at the smooth gliding of the water, when all of a sudden, he tumbled into the River.
He became so frightened that his high screams from the surface of water kept ringing in the ears of the people outside, for several minutes, as he struggled to swim ashore. But it was a desperate attempt; he sank into the deep River.
In fact, he never expected to live any more; never hoped to see any better thing with his eyes again; never believed, that he could ever come out of this deep water and see human life. His only thought was that sooner or later, he would be swallowed by a big hippopotamus, or be wedged between the sawteeth of a cruel crocodile.
But it was rather astonishing to him, that none of these mishaps overtook him in the water. Breathing slowly through his nostrils, with his mouth tightly closed, he was just gradually and straightly descending, as if by means of a parachute, until at last to his utter amazement, he landed on a smooth and sparkling flat ground—a vast limitless floor.
Here at once, he began to see a big market of all sorts of pleasurable and delightful things; all sorts of valuable merchandise for human interest, including high-scented perfumes and aloes, precious stones, silver, and gold. The whole ground was overspread with florins, florins, nothing but florins, so beaming that his eyes could not rest on them for a minute.
But something awe-struck him about the whole place. The area looked desolate and remained quiet. There were no signs of human beings or animals living there. Not a shrill of birds, not a buzz of a bee, nor the tone of a human voice, could be heard by him. There were no halls, no rooms, in short, no shelter of any description. Also no vegetation what-ever could be found there. According to him, the thunders of rain which seasonally pour over us here, did not reach there at all.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Voices of GhanaLiterary Contributions to the Ghana Broadcasting System 1955–57, pp. 136 - 138Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018