Okposalebo: Of Famed Palm-Wine and Braggart Drinkers

“It had happened on the festival day that as Obika and Ofoedu drank with the three men at the market place, one of the men had thrown a challenge to them. The conversation had turned on the amount of palm-wine a good drinker could take without losing knowledge of himself. 

     'It all depends on the palm-tree and the tapper,’ said one of the men. 

     ‘Yes,’ agreed his friend, Maduka. ‘It depends on the tree and the man who taps it,’ 

     ‘That is not so. It depends on the man who drinks. You may bring any tree in Umuaro and any tapper,’ said Ofoedu, ‘and I shall still drink my bellyful and go home with clear eyes.’ 

     Obika agreed with his friend. ‘It is true that some trees are stronger than others and some tappers are better than others, but a good drinker will defeat them both.’ 

     ‘Have you heard of the palm-tree in my village which they call Okposalebo?’ Obika and Ofoedu said no. 

     ‘Anyone who has not heard of Okposalebo and yet claims to be a good drinker deceives himself.’ 

     ‘What Maduka says is very true,’ said one of the others. ’The wine from this tree is never sold in the market, and no one can drink three hornfuls and still know his way home.’ 

     ’This Okposalebo is a very old tree. It is called Disperser of a Kindred because two brothers would fight like strangers after drinking two hornfuls of its wine.’