ALLEGORY: "THE CAMEL THAT READ" BY MUHAMMAD MERCURIAL

“Enough!”

was all we heard the king say.

“The twenty-four of you are guilty,

and in the next five months,

your heads shall leave your necks.

Lock them up now!

And let the merriment begin!”

That is our king,

the Merry Men King.

In the third month,

we all assembled before the king.

And he said,

“Today’s fun shall be held in the prison.”

All the prisoners were brought out.

“I want to set one of you 3,498 inmates free.

From death to death…

or to everlasting noble freedom.

Haa! Haa! Haa!”

he laughed.

“Killers, bring the two giant swordsmen forward.

Unsheathe your swords!”

They did.

“Now, if any of you would like to take my offer,

step forward.”

3,400 stepped backward.

98 stepped forward.

“Let us hear your decree,”

they said in unison.

“I was gifted a camel yesterday.

Anyone among you who can teach the camel how to read

will be set free

and move from death sentence to noble freedom for many centuries to come.

However, whoever fails won’t see the next two months

and shall lose his neck immediately.

Haa! Haa! Haa!”

He laughed.

97 stepped back in unison and echoed,

“This is impossible!”

The king said,

“Yes, Number 98,

why are you standing?”

“I am standing because I can do it.”

“Note, the condition is instant death if you fail.”

“Yes, I also have a condition.”

“Speak.”

“You will give me 40 days alone with this camel in a private room.

All your guards shall obey me.”

“Agreed.”

Day 20, after brainstorming,

he decided to starve the camel for 5 days.

Day 25, he got a book,

opened it page by page,

poured different kinds of food on each page,

and placed it before the camel.

The camel began to eat page by page.

He continued this for 5 days.

On Day 35,

he did not give the camel food for 5 days.

On Day 40,

the king arrived.

“Bring out that man

who claimed he could make a camel read.

Can you make him read now?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Bring me a book.”

The camel began to open the pages of the book, moving through it one page after another, humming.

Unknown to the king, it was searching for food within the pages.

It finished the book and hummed.

Everyone was amazed.

The king said,

“You have done a wonderful job,

but we only saw him going through the pages.

We did not hear what he was reading.”

“My lord, our agreement was that you asked me to teach the camel how to read, not how to read aloud.”

© Muhammad Mercurial

- Nigeria 

“The Camel That Read” by Muhammad Mercurial tells the story of a cruel king who promises freedom to any prisoner who can teach a camel how to read. While others fear the impossible task, one prisoner accepts the challenge and spends forty days training the camel through clever conditioning.

By placing food between the pages of a book, the prisoner teaches the camel to flip through the pages in search of food. When presented before the king, the camel appears to be reading, amazing everyone in the court.

In the end, the prisoner cleverly explains that the agreement was only to make the camel read, not read aloud. The poem highlights intelligence, survival, and the power of wisdom over oppression.