419 did not start today. I always like to imagine how people first came to do certain things. ‘ hey, people are gullible, ive got an idea! You know how I fooled ola and he was very angry but couldn’t do or say anything about it cos he was ashamed of his greed and stupidity, this time lets take it bigger, maybe even global, we have the internet don’t we?
For those of you who love to read like me, maybe u have heard of or read ALI and the ANGEL. In a nut shell, Ali told everyone in his small village that an angel is visiting him and if u are clean and pure of mind, u can come and see the angel and ask him whatever you want….for a fee. Well the villagers gathered, some out of disbelief, some curiosity, some skepticism and some just wanted to expose the fraud, but how can u go in and come out and say u did not see anything and then be regarded as unclean without a pure heart? So all of them both brave and strong and wise, paid, went in and spoke to the angel. I don’t know how the story ended because I laughed so hard. If you were told the way I was told u would laugh too, sometimes it’s not the joke that is funny, it’s how u tell it.
Ali is a crook obviously, but I decided to play devil’s advocate and call him a darn good sales man. Why because he did not beg or steal or force he only persuaded. He sold a perception and people fell for it. He played on people need to be good and moral and clean. How is he different from the pastors of now a days??? Yes I said it sue me.
(i wrote this note with a huge smile on my face and a lesson learnt, dont think u r not supseptible to deciet, its cockiness like that, that leads you straight there. just be careful and wary)
I was looking out for the full script and i stumbled on your piece, the original story which i had read, was in the then Primary School English reader series for Primary 4 precisely. This was meant for Nigerian Schools and maybe some West African countries, one interesting thing i observed lately is that all primary schools in Nigeria did not use same type of English text. While some used the one published by Macmillan others used the Oxford text and in some other cases a mix of both text at different grades. I used the Oxford text which had the Ali story, i am tempted to conclude that we were some how indoctrinated into this craft of "salesmanship" (borrowing your word) or deceit at a very young age. Maybe a story that was suppose to enlighten us produced an effect beyond the anticipated and can give some explanation why the adults in our society behave they way they do....just saying.
ReplyDeleteYour perception appears to be obvious.I too can recall that English text Book at 70s vary from Region to Region. It was about that Merchant that sold ash in place of sugar to some people he convinced it was sugar. That is the 419 of today
DeleteYes i actually learn how to read using it.
ReplyDeleteI seriously need that book Ali did many doubious deals and peoples greed could not help them.
How can i get the book please?
Get New Oxford English Course book 4. It was one of the king's chief that exposed Ali at the end of it all. He brought empty coat to King to purchase because there was nothing in Ali's hand but he told King that only people with clean heart can see the coat. The Chief advised the king to also give Ali nothing and told him is only people with clean heart that can see the money. Ali pretended as if he actually collected money. That was how Ali's trick was exposed.
DeletePlease how can I get the book
DeleteI'm also looking for the book, the earlier edition had Abdul and the Angel.
DeletePlease anyone who knows how I can get it either hard copy or pdf. Kindly get in touch with me on pierredateme@gmail.com
I'm looking for the part where a little boy poured water into Ali's umbrella
DeleteIt was not Ali's umbrella. It was the old man. It was in a work exercise in the reader. The old man threw away the umbrella claiming his previous one doesn't get him wet
DeleteAll I need is that book. I read it through. I didn't know it was a compendium of prophecies which are now been fulfilled. I need a copy, direct me on how to get one.
ReplyDeleteAre those books still in print. I read the story in Primary school. This night I remember the story and I was trying to tell it to my children but I couldn't recollect everything.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should try to find out if those stories could still be found somewhere please... I was just driving back home this evening and I just remembered the topic "Ali and the angels coat" it's so sad but funny, I quite remembered back then when I was in primary school in Northern Nigeria, Bauchi and Yobe state precisely. we couldn't even read English so the English teacher have to read the stories and then interpret for us in hausa. Ali and the angels coat was our favorite story then, i just thought of it and wish i can get to now read it by myself to get a better understanding of the full story...
ReplyDeleteA long time ago, there was a man whose was Ali, he was clever but had very little.
DeleteAlthough, he wants to get rich quickly but he did not want to work hard.
So one morning he left the city to a place where there are no houses.
There he began to build a hut of woods and stones.
Then his friends saw him as he was building the house.
One of them said, Ali, you have got a house in the city, why are you building another one here?
Ali said, go away, they went away shaking their heads, they thought Ali was mad.
When the but was finished, Ali went back to his friends and said to them, do you know why I was building the but? They said they don't. He said, you see last week I had a dream that for one day and only one an Angel will come to the hut. That only good men can come and see the angel, if a bad man comes he won't see him and he won't talk to him.
Emenike Ejekwu
There was also Tea Without Sugar, another one of Ali's antics.
ReplyDeleteAli had lost his house to a fire outbreak, then got to learn of a town where they never knew sugar.
Ali packed the ashes from his burnt house and traveled to that town and sold ashes to them as sugar. From the proceeds,he was able to get himself a new home.
When his friends got to know of this, they burned down their houses and set off to same town to sell their ashes as sugar. But unfortunately for them, some merchants had reached the town before them, and sold real sugar to them.
Ali's friends ended up getting beaten to a pulp, after losing their homes in arson.
To complete your story: ALI AND THE ANGEL...
ReplyDeleteWhen Ali told the Villagers that the angel was going to visit, on the D-day, people paid money and 1 after the other, they went in to visit the talk to the Angel.
When they went in and realised that they couldn't see the Angel, they didn't want to appear as someone who really didn't see the angel, so they pretended and agreed that they saw the angel.
The next man went in, didn't see the angel but thought, oh, why can't I see the angel? The people before me saw the angel. If I say that I have not seen the angel, they will assume that I am a bad person, so they kept lying and claiming that they had seen the angel and spoke with The Angel. When in actuality, there was no Angel.
I read this book in my uncle's house long sgo, he loved to save things from the past, old money old books etc.
If I could lay hands on the full book, I'd definitely read it over and over again.
I can only remember this story and the story: Tea without sugar vividly
You hardly can find such books today. Books read in schools in the '70s and '80s are not ordinary books, and that's we that went to school those good old days can't be completed with those of today. No hurt meant
ReplyDeletecompared
ReplyDeleteYou hardly can find such books today. Books read in schools in the '70s and '80s are not ordinary books, and that's why we that went to school those good old days can't be compared with those of today. No hurt meant
ReplyDelete