An elder, who was a root man in his lineage secret organization died and his burial rites almost broke the record of going smoothly without any awful occurrences. But in all, only one horrible event took place which will be the story of our lesson in this killer piece of fable.

Among the numerous rituals to be performed in his burial is the explosion of twelve cannon shots. This was why they hired the most suitable man for this job-the gun powder maker.

When the time of those explosions came and passed, the elders of the family went into the room where the body lay in state, with the first son of the deceased. Their aim was to call up the dead man to confirm the validity of his will and also for him to transfer a cryptic document in his procession which leads to one of the secrets of the family order, for it is customary to pass one’s crypt to his most trusted male heir so that no secret of the order will be lost as its (the order’s) existence depend on them (the crypts).

They tried all they could to call up the dead one but all to no avail (he refused to sit up). Confusion set in as every one of them in that room shivered and tremble. At a point they stopped trying and all sat down to ponder on what fate might bring upon them by the end of the year’s third quarter.

The silence was becoming so loud and unbearable before, thankfully, a certain drunk was sucked into the room just to speak his own mind about the whole event.

He started with a witticism, which commended their sumptuousness on the welfare of friends and well wisher who came to mourn with them. With that he got their attention.

But before he reminded them that people are waiting for them to hurry up with whatever family business they were caught up with and come outside, he lighted up a satirical fire-works.

But your big brother will certainly pay a heavy fine over there for your negligence about the cannon shots. You did worse than nothing. The spirits would have been angry had you given only one shot. They would have been disappointed if it were three shots. They wouldn’t have been unsatisfied with seven shots. Ten shots is good but the ideal number for a gem of his type would have been twelve shots. The spirits don’t have any combination like thirteen cannon shots in their ghoul diction. It’s quite a shame.

When the idiot left the room, the son of the deceased was asked to go and get the gun powder maker who was hired for the ritual of cannon shots. He was dragged into the room secretly and when he was asked he explained that the deceased was a very influential man whom he so much liked and admired. According to him, he is not charging the family for the extra one shot. It is his personal contribution in the deceased man’s last honour.

After his sweet presentation, the deceased man’s family seemed not yet satisfied with one extra shot, because they also, forcibly, demanded for his head with which they buried their dead.

This is to ease their dead root man of difficulties with the spiritual authorities on the other side of life after life.

Lesson

Sympathy is non-moral.

Some fables are rated ‘killer piece’ not because someone died a horrific death in the story, but it is because life and death depends on the lesson therein. You must pay attention and learn their lessons either to live or to die like a fool. The choice is yours to make.

During the days of tabernacle, an oxen which carried the ark of God stumbled and Uzzah (a lover of God) rushed forward and held the ark so that it will not fall to the ground. The LORD struck him dead, and Uzzah might even be burning in hell now “as you are reading this lesson”.

You must always keep your cloak of sympathy whenever you are due to your place of work. Again, sympathy is an official thing and not a moral standard…leave it for the people to whom the occasion was organized for. It is not a game organized for a worker; most especially a hired worker on contract. It is better to be dangerously wise than to be a nice brilliant fool.