A Shuttle in an Animal Kingdom in the United Kingdom of UK!

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I read Ola Rotimi’s THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME many many years ago and the words of Kurunmi, the Generalissimo, still ring in my ears.

Bring them up!

“Ibadan warriors are like horses, full of muscles, no sense”

Akiika! That’s wicked! How come?

Whether the statement is true or not could not readily be ascertained. Could it be the case of war propaganda in which situation TRUTH is always the first causality?
Whatever be the situation methinks this is a case of poor appreciation of the horse’s contribution to our lives as beasts of burden like JEKI (donkey) and KETEKETE (camel) that carry our extra luggage of trouble for us.

You are right on that score. We, Africans, do not appreciate our domestic animal ‘helpers’ and companions. The chickens and turkeys that we dote and appreciate enjoy that privilege primarily because they will eventually end up on the dinner table. Our professed care and love for them has expiry date the moment we are hungry for their fried or barbecued flesh.

What a paradox. The ones we like we kill for dinner! Omo araiye!

That’s it. Pity. But in other lands it is not like that. They love their animals more than they love their kids. Some ‘mad lovers’ are even wont to bark orders: LOVE ME. LOVE MY DOG! Can you beat that?!

Different folks, different strokes.

You are kuku right. This, perhaps, explains why animal sculptures abound in many strange lands.

You mean for OBODO OYIBO.

Yes, and yes. Back in Glasgow after another cold shuttle to Dublin I was more than eager to explore a typical animal kingdom in the United Kingdom of UK! Pls don’t laugh me 😂

So, what happened?

Off we headed twenty-six miles, north of Glasgow, to roam a designated park to see animals in their natural (recreated?)habitat. We saw virtually the kind of species you will come across in Haranbee ‘Park’ in Disneyland, Orlando. Funny enough a black tourist was as excited as the whites who were seeing animals which have been transported from African jungle to the whiteman’s jungle.

And what did you see? What made you display all your “Caterpillar denture” on seeing animals you ought to have seen in Ibadan or Ife university zoos or Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi?

Good observation! Actually, it’s not the lions and tigers and giraffes and elephants and monkeys that I saw that made me expose my weak molars and brownish incisors but the living wonders of artist’s creative imagination in huge sculptures of animals thought to have served humanity over the years. A notable one is the horse, at home, at war, on the racecourse horses have always been there to serve mankind, womankind and even boykind, girl kind “paapa “!

Any major feature?

Look at this giant of a sculpture of two horses literally galloping in the azure sky to the admiration of the tourists and many a Luke or Lukman🤣

The horses here seem to have sense, not only muscles, at least that’s what the artist is saying or not saying, leaving the whole thing to your own wild imagination.

Amazing.