TOMB RAIDERS

In a kingdom, far away from the coast in the African continent, the king’s chief adviser died. According to their tradition, a bigwig like that will be buried in room sized tomb with all his valuable belongings and a bed to rest for eternity. The tomb will have a window sized entrance that will be blocked with a heavy stone after the burial. The dead adviser was dressed beautifully in an expensive robe with a sparkling gold ring in his hand to honor his departure. Everyone present at the burial noticed the ring. In fact, no one could afford not to notice the ring. One may think that the dead adviser was being prepared to be crowned king of the dead. His grave was arranged like a bedroom with blankets and mattresses and he was laid on one of the mattresses. The entrance to the tomb was blocked with a big heavy stone as usual. Two thieves, Nadaya and Nabiyu attended the burial and decided to spend part of the night in the graveyard with the dead adviser, their sole aim was to loot the valuable items in the tomb, but their top priority is the gold ring. They made up their minds and they’re determined to achieve their aim. The looting was planned for midnight when the whole kingdom is quiet, but they’re not the only ones who saw the ring and they’re not the only ones who want it badly.

Early in the night, a group of three friends set out for the graveyard with the motif to loot, just like Nadaya and Nabiyu. They too planned to steal everything of high value from the tomb including the ring which is their top target too. They arrived the graveyard and locating the tomb wasn’t difficult. They stood in front of the tomb debating on who will enter and be passing the valuables outside. No one wants to do that. They all want to stand outside collecting the valuables to be passed outside by whoever is going inside. The eldest of the three friends nominated the youngest for the job but he declined, saying that the job was for the eldest. They’re all afraid of being alone inside a tomb with the dead. At last, the youngest volunteered to enter the tomb, saying no one dies until his/her appointed time. They pushed aside the heavy stone at the entrance for him to enter. Before he entered, the other two reminded him of the ring, that he shouldn’t let it slip off his hands because it’s dark and they have no source of illumination. He asked them not to bother about that. He entered and started passing the valuables out to them. They kept collecting and keeping them aside. He removed the ring from the dead man’s hand and hid it in his pants and continued passing other valuables out to them. They got done with that, but he didn’t pass the ring to them and he didn’t say a word about it. They asked him about the ring and he lied that he didn’t find it, that he has checked all ten fingers of the dead man and the ring wasn’t there. They debated on that for a while but he maintained that the ring was nowhere to be found. They understood his treachery, so, the eldest said to him, ”if treachery is what you planned, then keep the ring, lets see if it will help you out of this tomb”. They blocked the entrance with the heavy stone and left him trapped with the dead. They packed the other valuables and took-off. Inside the tomb, the third thief kept moving up and down thinking of a way to escape death by hunger. He knows he doesn’t have the strength to push away the stone at the entrance alone from inside the grave without any help and the dead cannot help him, but he decided to try. He put all his strength to it but there’s no success. At last, he gave up and lied down beside the dead crying. He cried his eyes out but the cry was useless. He gave up crying and accepted his fate, but unknown to him, his luck was about to strike.

Midnight came and it was time for Nadaya and Nabiyu to strike. They set out for the graveyard but unknown to them, others were there before them. Quiet inside the tomb, waiting for death, the trapped thief heard the sound of Nadaya and Nabiyu talking and coming towards the graveyard, he thought they were just passers-by. The idea of shouting for help crossed his mind but he might just scare them away, even if they help him out of the grave; they’ll report him to the king and his punishment will be death, he thougth. He is in a dilemma, so he decided to keep quiet. Nadaya and Nabiyu came right in front of the tomb and started debating on who will enter just like the first set of thieves. After debating for a while, Nabiyu decided he’ll enter. On hearing that, the trapped guy was engulfed by happiness. He got up silently and crept to the entrance, waiting for them to open the tomb. They pushed the heavy stone away. It was Nabiyu’s job to enter. He started bragging,” I don’t know why people fear the dead, will he strangle me if I enter? The dead is dead and dead for life and is never going to live again.” He pulled-up his trousers and stretched his leg in an attempt to enter. Swiftly, the trapped guy grabbed his leg and held it tight. Nabiyu made a futile attempt to pull out his leg but the grip was tight. He tried again and again but his attempts were fruitless.  He then shouted, “help! Help! Please help me, he has grabbed my leg. He wants to pull me in”. On hearing that, Nadaya took to his heels. The trapped guy released Nabiyu’s leg and he took-off too. It was a terrible experience for both Nadaya and Nabiyu, they wanted to become rich overnight but look what happened, they lost it. The trapped guy came out with the ring and went his way. He had the most terrible experience of all.