The Greatest Nigerian Myth

  

       As a kid i was told many different stories of things that supposedly happened years before i was born, and at that time i believed all the stories to be true, but as i grew up i realized that most of those stories were huge lies probably fabricated by someone who wanted to amuse or scare the children around him, and those children probably spread the stories everywhere they went. And some of the stories were based on real events blown way out of proportion.
       One of the ancient folktales is that of the 'Bush Baby', I'm guessing this myth was fabricated by senior students trying to scare the younger, more innocent students. As I was told a Bush baby is a baby from the dark realms that roams the bushes at night crying and holding a mat, and anyone who can steal its mat will have to survive 7 nights of torture from the baby, and if the person is able to survive the nights of torture, his wealth will know no bounds. Back in the day that was kinda scary but as i grew up i learnt that bush baby is actually another name for one small animal like that, and its called bush baby because it makes baby like noises. Another is the bloody Mary myth. Back in secondary school I was told that if you turn off all the lights in your room leaving only a candlelight on then you hold up a mirror and say "Bloody Mary" twelve times an image of Mary will appear in the mirror crying tears of blood, as if that wasn't enough you supposedly bleed out of your eyes too and then you die. No one i know ever tried it and i was too scared to, i later found out Bloody Mary is actually a famous drink.
     
     I've heard many different myths and tales over the years but there is one that stands out as the greatest of all, no Nigerian can claim not to have heard it is its the classic tale of the football match between Nigeria and India. As i was told the Nigerian team were told that if they could score just one goal before the Indian team scored one hundred goals, the Nigerian team were the victors.  The match was a strange one as the Indian team decided to play bare foot, as the match went on the Indians completely dominated the game and this was because the Nigerian players saw the ball as a lion and thus everyone avoided the ball, the Indians were using magic (Jazz or Juju if you will) perform impossible tricks with the ball and the closest depiction of that match would have to be the movie Shaolin Soccer. When the Nigerian team were on the brink of defeat with the scoreline 99-0, the Nigerian striker had a lucky opportunity, it was going to be Nigeria's only shot at goal in the match but as he was about to take the shot the ball transformed into a stone, but seeing a chance at victory he took the shot anyway and scored ending the match 99-1 with the victory going to Nigeria at the expense of the striker who died after taking the shot.
      It was a good story and i believed it for a while, then i later found out the striker that supposedly died in that match actually did die but in another match and not due to kicking a stone either he just slumped and died caused of one health issue. The person who made up that story was very creative and i wonder how he or she got it to spread so well, and I'm sure some people still think the story is true.