A Fable of Old

This is the story about a true village and its true crazy man. The way he became crazy is also true, if you believe in magic. (Names have not been changed to protect the innocent. And in any case, he's not so innocent, as he tried to steal my dinner one night.)

Once upon a time, in the land of Diakhaba, lived a man named Vieux. Despite his name (which means old in French), Vieux was a young man; he was given his nickname because his excellent farming skills gave him the air of being wise beyond his years. It was that time of year when the mangoes were just ending, clearing out in time for the rains to bring corn, and every day found the people of the village out in their fields, clearing the ground for the next harvest.

On this particular day Vieux rose with the sun. He wasn't yet married, so he went to the well and pulled water for himself. He washed his face and head, his hands and feet, preparing his body for the morning prayer, after which he ate a breakfast of rice leftover from dinner, then headed out. On the way, Vieux joined up with some other men who shared his fields and together they walked silently through the early morning. At the edge of the cultivated land, the men took off their shoes, as was the custom, and began pulling up the earth and turning it over. In this manner, an entire day passed, with the occasional pause for food and water, or to joke with someone about their wife eating beans (implying she is pregnant).

At the end of the day, all the men put their shoes back on and headed home. All the men, that is, except Vieux. Somehow during the day's work, his shoes - brown plastic flip flops - had gotten covered over by dirt. (His own hands were responsible for this, but he wouldn't know that until it was too late.) Instead, he assumed his shoes had been stolen and so, irate about his own brothers stealing from him, marched straight to the house of the marabout, barefoot and all!

The marabout was an old man who had served his community well, and therefore felt that now, in his waning years, he could relax and enjoy life (and rightly so). Vieux found the marabout reclining in his hammock, contemplating the sky. After Vieux went through the proper ritual of greetings, he explained the case of the missing shoes, and ended by asking the marabout to make a charm that would cause the culprit to become crazy.

"Think very carefully about what you're asking me for," the marabout warned. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Vieux assured him it was, and after the offer of enough money, the marabout was convinced to make the charm. But not without one final warning: "If you dig a hole to catch a thief, make sure it's big enough for yourself."

The barefoot man decided to ignore this cryptic proverb, and as soon as he stepped out of the marabout's compound, he strung the charm around his neck. Vieux would forever after be the village crazy man. He was, after all, responsible for "stealing" his own shoes.