Back after a long time
Hey everyone! It feels so good to be back on the read.cash platform after being away for what seems like forever. Life got really busy, and I had to take a break from writing and engaging with this amazing community. But now, I'm back and ready to dive back into the world of blogging and connecting with all of you.
I have to admit, I've missed this place so much. The read.cash platform has always been my go-to platform for sharing my thoughts, ideas, and experiences. It's a place where I can freely express myself and connect with like-minded individuals who appreciate and value the power of words.
During my time away, I've realized just how much I've missed the incredible support and encouragement from all of you. The read.cash community has always been so welcoming and uplifting, and I can't wait to reconnect with old friends and make new ones along the way.
I'm also excited to catch up on all the amazing content that I've missed during my absence. I know there have been some incredible articles, stories, and poems shared by talented writers on this platform, and I can't wait to dive into them and get inspired.
But most importantly, I'm here to continue sharing my own stories and experiences. Life has a way of teaching us valuable lessons, and I believe that sharing those lessons can help others navigate their own journeys. Whether it's through personal anecdotes, thought-provoking essays, or creative fiction, I hope to contribute something meaningful to this community.
So, here's to a fresh start and a renewed commitment to writing and engaging on read.cash. I'm excited to be back and can't wait to reconnect with all of you. Let's continue to support and uplift each other as we embark on this writing journey together. Cheers!
Do the dead walk among us?
Hello readlanders. It has been three days and I really miss being active here. Perhaps after my exams I will be more active. I heard ASUU and federal government are in a meeting negotiating the future of our academic activities. I hope it goes well so I can write my exams and put that phase behind me.
This afternoon, my roommate and I were bored from reading and so decided to have some story time. She was more into the afterlife stories. Trust me, they are not that scary. I just couldn't resist the urge to share her story with you all.
We were talking about the afterlife and how true it is that the dead live among us, so she decided to tell me this real life story of what happened in her birth community that strongly convinced her of the existence of the dead among the living. Here it goes.
There lived a poor widow in the community who had an only child. She did all she could to send him to school. She became known as an okpa seller (okpa is a local Nigeria delicacy). She hawked okpa around the town just to provide for herself and pay for her son's school fees. She was able to see him through university education.
When her son went for his Nation Youth Service, she was very happy and hoped he would turn their lives around. But then came the sad news that he had died in a road accident during one of his trips to go see him mum. The woman was devastated but she had to keep living. Each time she thought about her son, she would always question why he wasn't there to take care of her. Every hardship she went through reminded he of her son
Two or three years after her son's death, a young man came knocking at her door. He was looking for a place to stay. According to him, he was a student with accommodation issues and was willing to pay her monthly if she made him a tenant.
The woman cleared her late son's room so that the student could stay there. Soon. They began living like family. The student would give her money for almost everything. He would go out in the morning only to come back in the evening and give her money. He never wanted anything in return for the help he rendered the woman. He would always tell the woman, "as long as I am under you roof, I'll treat you like my mother".
Each time he does something for the woman, she would always remember her dead son. One day she decided to talk about her feelings with the student. She told him, "each time you do something for me, I remember my son and sometimes when I look deeply at you, I see him in you".
After she had said this, the student just said "mother" and vanished like a phantom. This put the woman in shock. She watched her son disappear with a smile on his face. When she had recovered from the schock(after about three days) she entered the boy's room only to discover that his property had disappeared along with him.
The story got me wondering about a lot of things. Does it mean that the dead walk among us and we just never notice? There truly is more to this life than meets the eye.
Why do you think about the story? Do you think such things happen?
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Thanks for reading
Ranting about school
Hello readlanders. It has been long since I last came by. I've been busy prepping for my nexy week exams and I still feel like I've done nothing. I don't know if I'm the only one that do get that feeling, but when it is time for exams I begin to feel like I haven't read enough or even that my brain is too slow to help me through the exam.
I've had series of quiz this week and reading for them has helped prepare me more for the exams. It is just that I keep having sleepless nights and I think I might be down with migraine. I was supposed to have a quiz today but luckily for me, it was cancelled. I already foresaw my failure in that quiz as a suffered memory block last night. I guess I was pushing myself too hard to study. I just went to class today with the the conviction that I would fail the quiz, I'm just lucky it got cancelled.
I also heard the saddest news today. It was something I detested so much. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) might embark on another strike. These people were forced by a court order to resume teaching in Universities just last month after they had embarked on an eight months strike over the inability of the Federal government to pay them salaries.
Just yesterday, the federal government paid them half a month salary and now these lecturers are threatening to go on another strike action. This is just so bad. The government has been owing them for the past nine months only for them to wake up yesterday and pay in only half a month salary. The worst part is that these lecturers are ready to stop teaching, some universities didn't teach today and it the students that will bear the pain of it all. We are still trying to survive the fact that we are learning eight month worth of knowledge in a month and now that want to embark on another strike.
It is becoming too much, no one wants to pay attention to education. But one thing I know for sure is that if another academic strike is embarked upon, it will last for a relatively long time. Students will then be required to become human robots. All the sleepless nights I've suffered will be in vain, all the migraines will count for nothing.
I just hope that things do not get as bad as I think it may. I can't even bear the thought of being in one class for two years. It is disheartening. And I still have to continue reading in hopes that there will be no strike and my exams will be written next week.
With the way things are going, I don't really think public institution will be a place to education my child. In this life, I must be rich☹️
Even in my agony, I'm glad to tell you that I finally got my glasses replaced. I broke it sometime last week and I was only able to get a new one yesterday. God works in mysterious ways. I did not spend a dime in replacing, a total stranger did. I helped him look after his mum for a minute and in appreciation, he just offered to pay for my glasses. I'll be sure to give the full details in my next article
Thanks for reading and I do appreciate your coming by.
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Is there a justification for jungle justice?
Lynching, mob justice or jungle justice has been an occurrence in my part of the world. It involves killing or punishing law breakers in the most inhumane way possible. This is mostly carried out by angry mob or the vigilantee group of a community as a way of seeking justice against offenders. I believe that this type of justice system started before the colonial era and was called "Trial by Ordeal".
In most communities, people needs to prove their innocence for a crime or for witchcraft accusations by jumping into an artificial sinking mud built by the community. If they drown and die, they are proclaimed innocent. Some people were subjected to be tied up and flogged for a number of times that will be equivalent to their crime.
With development came a more orderly society and government where punishment of offenders are left for the law enforcement organ of the government. Offenders are taken in and when found guilty face the punishment proscribed by the law. Even though this is now the trend, there still remain a certain portion of the society that still embrace mob justice.
Mob justice constitutes extra judicial killing which the law of every nation frowns upon. It is inhuman, it is degrading and it infringes on an accused persons right to fair hearing and justice.
Rape is a sin, killing is a sin, stealing is a sin, armed robbery is also a sin but that doesn't give the public the right to mete out justice on these people. The police department was not established for jokes neither was the courtroom established for concerts. These bodies are there in order to help carry out justice and stop injustice in the most peacefully way.
It is true that most times, the guilty parties get away scot-free maybe because they must have played some dirty games, many people walk free from their crimes. But that doesn't vest in citizens the right to see that justice is done through such cruel mob action.
Most of the people who were subjected to jungle justice are innocent. Imagine if you are walking along a busy Street and there is chaos. Someone stole something and is on the run. All of a sudden, one of the angry mob grabs and accused you of being the thief and before you can say anything in self defense, the crowd comes at you and begin to throw stones. Let's say you are lucky and the police show up before you are sent to an early grave in the most disgusting way possible. Or that the police shows up after the mob had carried out their intentions on you. Either way, the thief walks free and an innocent person pays the price. Sometimes, the thief would be among the crowd throwing stuffs at you. The biggest punch you got may have even come from him.
There is absolutely nothing justifying about jungle justice. No one deserves to go through that. It doesn't matter if he has committed the highest crime of the century. Even when death sentences were still a popular justice method, the court never sentenced anyone to a death as cruel as jungle justice.
I believe that the best way to combat jungle justice and extrajudicial killings is through mass education. But since most people block off this knowledge or rather still engage in jungle justice even after orientations, the best option is for individuals to always reach out to the law enforcement agencies when they see such things about to be done. Do not look away with an "it is none of my business attitude". It might happen to you or someone you know tomorrow. You may not necessarily have committed a crime but once someone points an accusing finger at you, your defense becomes useless
Do you think that the best way to battle injustice and punish offender in a world where most of them walk free is justified? The comment is yours.
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I was too careless
Hello elreadlander. Hope you had a Sunday splash. I can already perceive the scent of Sunday rice from here. It gets me wondering if it was ever made a rule that Sundays are for rice. I don't know about your part of the world, but over here, Sundays are the days for white rice and well scented stew.
Well, moving to my topic of the day, I broke my glasses yesterday and now I'm unable to sit too long on my phone neither can I read for a long time. I forgot I kept my glasses on the chair. I sat on it and now it is broken. Getting a new glasses will cost a lot and now I'll have to spend money because of my carelesness.
I started using glasses two years ago after I had caused myself an eye defect. Yes I caused it because I never listened when I was told not to sit too close to the TV. I developed that bad habit when I was a child. I remember then, when I played with other kids, we would focus our eyes on flashlights to know who would be the first to back down. That didn't do my eyes any good at all.
I also had the bad habit of reading or even studying with low burning candlesticks. All these contributed to my eye defect. The defect first started with daylight appearing too bright for my sight. It felt like bright lights were flashed directly into my eyes. Soon enough, things started to get blurry. I couldn't even study for a long time
It was two years ago that a doctor recommended that I use glasses. I spent 22 dollars on the glasses.
I called my doctor this morning to complain about the broken glasses. She scolded me for being too careless. I was told to drop by in the hospital tomorrow with the broken glasses. Hopefully it can be fixed. I get a heart attack thinking of the amount of money I will spend on getting new glasses.
I have a lot of school expenses I haven't settled and the last thing my parents would want to hear about is that I carelessly broke my glasses.
My exams will be starting next week as well. @TheRandomRewarder I need you the most right now.
She was my school mate
My lectures today lasted till 5:30 in the evening. There was still no break in between the lectures but the stress is nothing compared to the gain of the future. I had a successful quiz today as well. I'm proud of myself on that, I just hope that lecturer will also be proud of my answers. I didn't sleep a wink just to prepare for that quiz.
After I came back from class, I was tired and so decided to get some rest, my brain needed some cooling. It was this evening after I woke up and decided to check my social media that I saw the news of my friend's death. She was just about to clock 23 but the cold hands of death has no respect for birthdays or even age.
Gift was one of my best friends during our secondary school days. She was so vibrant and full of life. I remember we always joked about how many wrinkles would be on our faces when we eventually become grandmothers. It felt so sad to hear that Gift's journey on Earth has been cut so short.
I asked some friends the cause of her death and was told she just fell sick three days ago. It was just a mild illness but it ended up taking her dear life.
Death is truly a no respecter of person. It doesn't care about a person's personality or traits neither does it care about age. I've tried to ask the question, "God why?" but such things as death isn't to be questioned. It just pick its victims from wherever it chooses. All I can do is pray and hope that her soul reats in the perfect bossom of God.
I might choose to call life "unfair" for choosing to let go of Gift's soul, but life isn't meant to be fair. If it were fair, none would loose a thing and none would go unhappy.
Death is just an inevitable end to our journey on this stage called earth. Some people's journey stop before they are able to make anything out of it while some end after they must have achieved all that that have set out to achieve.
Man makes plans for tomorrow but how will those plans we fulfilled if life decided to let them go and death decides to take them in. No one is privileged, we are just lucky to still be here.
`Rest on dear friend, Sylvania will forever miss you till meet to part no more`
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We are humans not robots😩
The time check here is 3:10 AM and I haven't even layed down my head to catch some sleep. I've just been flipping through my Law of Contract textbook. Right now my brain seems to be blocked and I have an emergency quiz by 8:00 am this early Saturday morning. I just decided to come here and offload my anger, maybe then my brain will begin to understand what I'm reading.
My department has decided to skin students alive after we cane Beck from this eight months old strike. We have been having 7:00 am to 6pm classes everyday without breaks in between. Sometimes I fell like these people has brought is her to break our head. I know it is important for is to have lectures regularly but this is not what we sighnee up of. Just yesterday even when we came back from class around 6:30 pm, I logged in to our class info group on WhatsApp just to see that a Saturday early morning quiz has been fixed for us. Everyone complained about it, but the only reply we got was that it was for our good. So it is for my own good to come back from a stress filled class and still loose a whole night of sleep. I know education is important and we still need to cover eight months worth of knowledge but I just never imagined the stress to be like this.
Just before writing this article, I logged in to our WhatsApp group again to see that another lectures has been fixed to hold by 7am. That is one hour before the quiz. The most painful aspect is today is Saturday. Who fixes such classes on Saturdays.
I am somehow convinced that another lectures from God knows where will enter the class after our quiz and decide to start teaching. Today's lectures might even end in the evening.
I'm having a strong headache right now but still can't sleep. I swear my child won't school here😩. Sometimes I think of packing my load and going back to my parent's house, but that is just mere thoughts. I have to fight with the last strength in me
Maybe in trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the shege(hard times) I'm am seeing now will turn to happiness in the nearest future after I must have made it as a successful lawyer. Maybe then I will even give the lecturers some 'thanks for moulding me' hugs. But right now, I'm super sad and angry with them.
I know I can choose to not bother myself about this stress and get as much sleep and comfort as I want but that would be me comfortably lying on the bed of failure.
Sharing my frustrations here just lightened my heart. Thanks for staying on through my complaint. You just contributed in relieveing my stress😚.
I heard about the unceasing rainfall and flooding in the Philippines. I hope everyone is safe and sound. The natural disaster will go away, that's mine and everyone else's prayer
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Folktale: The creation
Hi dear readers and subscribers. How are you all doing. So today I had to squeeze out a little time to write this short story. It has been long since I last shared a folktale here.
We all have our myths and believes about how the earth was created. It is thesame way that folktales have their different ways of telling the story of the creation animal kingdom.
It is said that after Olisa (the creator) made heaven and Earth and perfected his creation, he called the animals he had created for a meeting. He wanted them to air their opinions on how good or bad they saw his creation work.
The first to air his opinion was the tortoise. He said to Olisa,
"I do not like the fact that you made my back too visible. I know you have created me to be beautiful, but what if my beautiful back begins to earn jealousy from your other creations. Where then will I hide".
Olisa thought about it and decides to give a permanent solution to the tortoises' worry. He simply made a shell and covered his back. He made sure the shell was big enough for the turtle to hide himself in the face of danger.
The giraffe also had a complaint or rather a contribution to make. He said to Olisa.
"The other creatures you made are too noisy and loud. I do not like it. I would appreciate if you made me different from them. Let me be able to see all things but remove the noise from me".
Eledumare granted his wish by making the giraffe a mute. He also made the giraffe's neck so long. That is why the giraffe sees all, knows all but never makes a sound.
The fowl made a request saying, "what if the earth becomes too small for all of us. Can't you make it such that some of your creatures will disappear when that time comes".
Olisa the creator thought about it and decided to introduce death so that the earth will never be too small for his creation.
The other animals made their various requests and thus Olisa granted them their u iwue features.
The end
I've been so busy recently that I hardly have time to do anything on this platform. I have lectures fixed tomorrow from 8am to 6pm. It is so frustrating and tiring but I just can't give up, never.
I'll try as much as possible to post and comment on articles whenever I get the chance.
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Lost but found: We all panicked
Have you ever felt the pain of having a missing loved one? It is not something to with on yourself or anybody at all, especially if the missing person is a child.
Today I saw a woman cry over her missing daughter and trust me, I was brought to tears. From last night to this evening was a chaos for this woman. She has only one child who was just eight years old. She and her daughter had packed in to our apartment just last two weeks. She is a single mother.
Her daughter made friends with some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Just yesterday, she decided to follow those kids to a church program organised for kids her age. Her mum let her attend after the other kids who were matured enough promise to being the little girl back.
When it was evening, the other kids came back without the little girl. The said they couldn't find her and so decided to come back. This girl's mother nearly ran mad. Her daughter had never been to that church before so she may find it hard to make a journey back home on her own. Her mother decided to go look for her at the church but couldn't find her. She came back with tears in her eyes believing that her only child has been kidnapped. We all made efforts to find the little girl that night but she was nowhere to be seen. We went to the police station to file a missing child report but were told to wait until after 24hours. The girl's mother also had to put a call across to the girl's father to tell him she couldn't find their child. The man lived in another state but had to make the journey down to our state last night. He was visibly panicked and let blaming the woman for not being able to keep their daughter safe even after he had been paying for child support.
We all went to bed last night with our hearts in our mouth. The rate of kidnapping in this town has increased recently. The man and the woman argued throughout the night. They kept blaming each other for being negligent towards their daughter.
We all woke up this morning to the child still missing. The girl's parents went back to the police station to file a report but they were still told to wait till evening. They pleaded as much as they could but the officer at the station paid them no heed.
It was this evening that the parish priest of the church where the children program was held brought the missing girl back home. He said he had seen the girl at the church chapel in the morning. It was when he saw her still sitting there in the evening that he began to ask her questions. A girl her age was supposed to be home at that time of the evening. She told him that she doesn't know the way home and was afraid of being taken by a stranger so she decided to stay in the church chapel and pray for her parents to find her.
According to the little girl, she had gone to urinate after the children program was over but on coming back, the other kids had left her. She knew the address to her house but didn't know the way home and she was afraid of asking strangers for directions so she slept at the church alter. It was in the morning that she decided to go wait and pray in the chapel for her parents to find her.
Her parents were happy to see her and she was more than happy to see her father as she has not seen him in a long while. We were all very happy to have the little girl back.
Even though it was a very bad experience for all of us when the girl went missing, it was still an avenue for a family reunion.
We can all sleep peacefully this night, knowing fully well that the precious little girl was lost but has bee found. It is a thing of miracle.
The girl's dad is throwing a party for everyone tomorrow morning in appreciation of our efforts in helping to look for his daughter.
The tears and self blame that the girl's mother went through were enough to make me not wish such a bad event on any parents. I myself couldn't eat comfortable throughout the whole saga because I loved the little girl too much. It is so painful when you have to loose a loved one. I thank God she was found and brought back in one piece.
Thanks for reading
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Low self-esteem and your life
Your self-esteem is your overall evaluation of yourself. It is the extent to which you hold positive or negative views about yourself. It is your own opinion of your dignity or worth, your feelings of self-respect and self-confidence.
Your self-esteem is simply how you see yourself. It is either you approve or disapprove of what you see. It is like standing in front of a mirror looking at yourself and judging the reflection. Self-esteem is therefore correlated with the formation of self-image and self-conscience.
WHAT IS LOW SELF-ESTEEM?
Low self-esteem is a mental state of an individual who lacks confidence in himself. People struggling with this challenge usually feel inadequate, incompetent and unloved. A critical look at their lifestyle will reveal that they are usually afraid of making mistakes or failing in the expectations of others.
Negative thoughts are common with individuals suffering from low self-esteem. When your thoughts or an inner voice keeps telling you that you are not good enough even when sometimes, prevailing circumstances reveal otherwise, you are likely suffering from low self-esteem.
SIGNS OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM
Sensitive to criticism
People struggling with low-self esteem are usually sensitive to criticism. They see it as reinforcing their flaws and confirming that they are incapable of doing anything right.
Unnecessary Hostility
Constant unnecessary and avoidable hostility in some persons can be linked to low self-esteem. The tendency to lash out or become aggressive towards others is a defense mechanism for persons struggling with low self-esteem especially when they feel that they are about to be exposed or criticized.
Social Withdrawal or Avoidance Behaviours
Social avoidance is very common in people with low self-esteem. They fear that others will see their weaknesses and reject or ridicule them. Therefore, they avoid social situations or opportunities. Many avoid more intimate social relationships such as dating and marriage. As a lifestyle not to socialize, they decline invitations to go to parties or meet up with friends. They can cancel scheduled plans at the last-minute. Generally, they just do not want to explore opportunities to be around others. Persons suffering from low self-esteem may not have the desire to hold a conversation for too long or beyond the surface as it may expose their flaws.
Camoulaging
Camouflaging is a common way of life among people with low self-esteem. Most of then camouflage disliked body areas for example, covering disliked areas with a hat, makeup, clothing, hair, or sunglasses. Many camouflage by holding their body in positions that make the disliked areas less visible to others. They have the inner urge to cover up the errors in their lives and appear much better than who they really are. They are so much concerned about how others see them.
Mental and Physical Health Issues
Low self-esteem has been shown to lead to mental and physical health issues such as depression, anxiety, and anorexia (eating disorder that can have fatal consequences. People suffering from anorexia consume very restrictive quantities of food, which leads to starvation. Eventually they can become very emaciated and malnourished). Low self-esteem can also lead to unhealthy habits such as drug or alcohol abuse.
HOW YOUR SELF-ESTEEM AFFECTS YOUR LOVE LIFE
Your self-esteem is significantly associated with your mental health, satisfaction with life, happiness, hope and ultimately, your love life. Its role in psychological functioning cannot be overemphasized. People with high self-esteem experience more happiness, optimism, and motivation than those with low self-esteem. They also experience less depression, anxiety, and negative mood because they can positively moderate dysfunctional situations and depressive symptoms in life. So, high self-esteem is a must factor in order to attain the feeling of happiness. Happiness is too contagious. As it flows from you, it circulates in you environment. Your constant happy mood can affect and influence your partner. Who wants to be around a partner who regularly exudes negative energy? A high level of self-esteem supplies you with the ability to accept happy moments, to handle unpleasant situations, to cope effectively with challenges, to engage in close relationships and to improve your strengths. Sound self-esteem brings you closer to your partner. When you are satisfied with what you see in yourself, you can confidently bring yourself closer to your partner.
How you see yourself matters a lot in a relationship. On a scale of 1-10, what is your personal score of the person you are'? Do you love the person you see in the mirror standing right before you? If you do not love yourself, how would you expect another person to love you? Is it not foolhardy to worry and complain because someone else does not approve of what you have disapproved of yourself? Have you made advances before towards a person of the opposite sex for a relationship which turned out a flop Did your relationship crumble along the way to your chagrin, for no apparent reason? Did your partner fall head over heels in love with you, but suddenly got cold feet, and you are almost pushing and mounting pressure to sustain the relationship Maybe it is time to stop searching for the problem outside. Maybe it's time to look inwards. Your assessment of the reflection in the mirror may be the reason.
People with high self-esteem are more resilient to the struggles of life. They are more likely to persist in the face of failure or difficult tasks than those with low self-esteem. Sound self-esteem is important for self-regulation and good quality of life. It is necessary for maintaining a positive viewpont to issues. It also helps you to see the unique aspects of life. When your self-esteem is sound, you can easily identify your latent talents and significantly improve your creative faculties. When an individual believes in himself, when he loves himself, he simply ignites a sense of joy or happiness within himself, which is a necessary factor for a sweet and impactful relationship. Who wants to be with a wimp?
Your self-esteem will reflect in the way you treat your partner as well as the way your partner will see you. Having a sound self-esteem equips you to come into your relationship with a positive outlook. With such outlook, you can easily create different avenues for exploring precious moments, even in the face of difficulties in life, thereby reducing friction in the relationship. Having a sound self esteem entails accepting yourself as you are. It enables you to remain confident in your decisions and forthright in expressing your likes and dislikes. Your partner will get inspired by your faith in your own self, which in turn, fuels your self-esteem even more. Don't change yourself in order to suit others. Just be yourself.
Having a healthy self-esteem is very important for good personal and social adjustments. Your sound self-esteem will show in your communication flow with your partner. Imagine seeing yourself less than your partner. That is low self-esteem which will reflect in your interactions and dealings with him or her. It is disaster waiting to happen. Conversely, sound or healthy self-esteem helps you to build a lasting relationship. Why see yourself as unfit to be with your partner? You are unique and special. When you think you are not handsome or beautiful enough to match up with your partner, when you sub-consciously belittle yourself in his or her presence, that's self-defeat. You've lost the 'battle' before it began. No relationship blossoms on such soil.
To deal with low self-esteem, you have to learn to guard your thoughts with diligence, accommodate your mistakes and see yourself the way God sees you.
Thanks for reading
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Folktale: The persistent thirsty crow
Once upon a time, in a forest near a town, there lived a crow. This crow had been on the road for a long time and was therefore extremely thirsty. He looked around for drinking water but couldn't find any.
Without water, the crow became extremely dehydrated. He did, however, continue his search for water. He circled the jungle and the nearby town.
When the crow was flying over town, he noticed a house. 'I'm sure there'll be some drinking water over here,' he reasoned.
He noticed some drinking water in the pot. He became extremely happy. The crow's beak, however, could not touch the water because the water level was extremely low.
After a while of thought, the crow had an idea. "If I throw pebbles in the pot, the water level will rise," he reasoned. Then I'll be able to drink the water easily."
The crow looked around, thinking. He noticed some small pebbles on the floor nearby. He flew over to the pebbles and took one in his beak.
He went back to the pot and placed the stone inside. The water level rose slightly, but the crow's beak could not reach the surface.
The crow returned to the pebbles and collected some more stone. Then he went to the pot and dropped the stone in it. The water level rose even higher.
He tried but failed to drink the water. He was exhausted, but he persisted and did not give up hope.
The crow spent more than an hour picking up small pebbles and placing them in the pot.
The amount of water gradually increased. After a lot of effort, the water level in the pot reached the rim.
The crow was very happy. He dipped his beak in the drinking water and began drinking the water. He drank and drank right up until he could drink no more.
Then, he invited other thirsty birds to come and drink the water. Lots of thirsty birds came and drank the water. Then, they thanked the clever crow and left.
Thanks to his intelligence and efforts, the crow saved his own life, getting out of the most challenging situation.
He knew what he wanted and he was persistent in doing it. He serves as a life lesson to everyone. You can not be persistent when you do not know what you want. First identify your purpose and then work persistently to achieve it.
It also teaches us to be able to endure hardships and try out new ideas as they come our way. The crow was tough, that was why he kept working hard and never backed down. Remember the saying, "if the going gets tough, the tough gets going".
If an imaginary crow can, then you can
Show some love @TheRandomRewarder I've missed you
I've made a successful journey back to school. I know it is going to be stressful trying to juggle between writing here and studying but I'll keep trying my best as this is my only source of income right now. Wish me well in my studies because e don dey choke😩
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Telling stories to teach moral
We all owe a responsibility to each other as humans. We need to coexist peacefully with each other to achieve happiness as well as our life goals. To coexist peacefully, we ought to exhibit some positive values and morals most of which we are taught from the moment we are born.
I grew up in an environment where morals are taught to people especially children through telling of short moral stories. All of these stories are aimed at making us learn to do things that are required of us as responsible individuals in ten society. The power of moral stories lies in the fact that they are never forgotten after years of being told, and when a child makes mistakes, he can easily remember those moral stories and the lessons they teach. It is apparent that giving mere advise to children does not hold any candle to telling them stories that has those advise as moral stories.
Today, I've decided to compile a lot of short moral stories or illustrations that were told during my childhood days
Stinginess and Unforgiveness
As a Nigerian child, you must have heard you parents give you the perfect description of a stingy and unforgiving person. Each time you display unnecessary signs of stinginess or you refuse to forgive someone who has wronged you, you begin to hear something like, "*a person who bears grudges turns ug!y, sk!ny and bony overtime with their heads bigger than their body. Their buttocks is always the first to dry out because stinginess is a parasite which feed on people"*.
Such story is enough to make us forgive our neighbors because no one want to look as was described
Talking too much and grumbling
Most of the times, we are told that talking too much is bad especially when what we are saying is unnecessary, but we do not really tend to listen. So a story is told about a child created perfect by God but became disfigured because he uses his mouth too much. He would always comment unnecessarily on matters that never concerned him anf he would always grumble especially wgen sent on an errand. Each time he grumbled or talked unnecessarily, his mouth would enlongate and soon enough, his mouth was touching the floor. I never wanted to be like this boy in the story so I learnt to only talk when necessary and to stop grumbling. No child would like a moith so long that it touches the ground
Gluttony
If as a child, you ate and always wanted to eat everything, you will be told the story of a child who is of same gender as you. The child wanted to have it all and to eat it all until one day he collected some candy from a witch who turned him into a cockroach. I never wanted to be turned into a cockroach, so that story was enough to make me have absolute control over my throat.
Stubbornness
If you are stubborn, you are always regarded as thick headed and the story of what happened to stubborn people during the era of slave trade would be used to educate you. If you are too stubborn, you will receive threats like, *"I'll tell the government that you are stubborn and they will ship you off to the desert".* False stories of children who have faced same fate would be told to you. I never got to know how false these stories were until I grew up and realized it was a way of getting me to behave in order.
Those are just sent instances o remember, but most of all I'll never forget the story of how you will loose your belly button if you are late for running an errand.
Even though these stories put fear in the heart of children and they are bound to find out how false the stories are when they must have grown up, the purpose of those stories are still achieved. Your never forgetting those stories is a reminder that even though they are false, there are consequences for every bad moral we display.
If I do get married and have children in the future, moral stories will be a necessary part of teaching them good morals. Sometimes sitting them down and delivering long epistles advise may not be as effective as those stories.
What do you think? That moral stories should be a necessary part of teaching our children morals? The comment is yours.
`Thanks for coming by😍`
`Lead image from unsplash`
Netflix or Huhu 🤔
*Hello readlanders. I trust you all had a good day. Today was stressful for me. ASUU has called off their academic strike and lectures will start on Monday, so I'm using the little time I have to pack and get ready to resume on Sunday. It is quite stressful especially as I'm preparing for two possible quizzes on Monday. I haven't really had time to visit articles here on read.cash, all I do is post already written articles.*
*Just this evening, I realized I have have exhausted all the articles I had written and it is time to make new ones, so I just decided to give my answers to some interesting random questions I saw on @Gianna_B 's post. She happened to have taken the game from @Itsfarah 's post. It is all about making choices between things. Here we go.*
*Sand or snow?*
*"I definitely won't choose snow because I have never experienced it. I will choose sand because I'm more familiar with it and also because of the beautiful fun childhood memories it brings me. Making sand houses out of wet soil and watching the shiny sparkle of dry sand when thrown in the air were blissful moments to me as a kid".*
*Dogs or cats?*
*"I'll always go for the dog. It is said that dog is man's best friend and my dog made me really the truth in that statement. When I'm the only one at home, I don't feel lonely because I know I got my dog to keep me company and play with me".*
*Night in and night out?*
*"Depends on the day and on the activities of the tomorrow. I'll always go to the cinema with the girls to relax and watch some movie on a Friday night. On other days, I'll prefer a night in. I mean I wouldn't want to sleep around at work or even in class. So it depends".*
*Coffee or tea?*
*"I've tasted both and I have developed a special preference to coffee. The smell is just intoxicating and I can't even begin to describe the feeling when I take a sip. Sweetness mixed with bitterness yet smooth to the taste. It just leaves me longing for more".*
*Netflix or Huhu?*
*"This is the first time I'm hearing of Huhu, so it can't be an option for me. I'll go for Netflix because I know and use, though not regularly. There are lots of amazing movies on Netflix that I can't help but get addicted to it. The video quality is top notch and only the best of the best is to be expected there. Perhaps I will look up Huhu, who knows I might choose it over Netflix if they have more interesting contents to offer me".*
*Sunrise or sunset?*
*"Always sunset. I don't really pay attention to the sunrise, all I do is anticipate the time when the sun will set so that I can watch and appreciate the glowing beautiful colors it bring. It is just like I am watching a special work of art. Watching the sun set helps me unwind from the day's activities. What better way to end my day like watching the sunset".*
*Iphone or android?*
*"I would love to hold and iPhone and call it mine. That phone has been hyped too much so I really want to get my hands on one so I can see the special thing it has. I guess it won't happen anytime now because there are lots of expenses I need to take care of. I'm still comfortable with my Android phone so I'll choose it over an iPhone. Choosing an iPhone over an Android will be when I buy one, hopefully soon enough".*
*Summer or winter?*
*"I don't know what to choose as we do not experience these seasons in my country. We have the rainy season, dry season and harmattan. Harmattan is too dry and can induce asthma, so it is not an option for me. I'll just choose the rainy season, when the whether is cook and after a hot day, the rain will relax your nerves".*
*TV shows or Movies?*
*I'll go for movies. I watch TV shows but it is not as fun as stepping out with friends or even family to go watch a nice movie. I love having movie sleepover nights with my friends, it is just fun filled".*
*Sleep already knocks on my door and it is time to retire for the day. Hopefully I'll be up early tomorrow morning so I can finish making preparations for my travel.*
`Thanks for reading`
`Lead image downloaded from unsplash`
Folktale: The Creator and the Turtle
Good day readlanders. I bring you another folktale from the Igbo people of Nigeria. It is about the wise turtle whose deep wisdom made other animals stay away from. They felt inferior and intimidated around him, so they all deserted him. Besides, he has played lots of expensive pranks and jokes on them with his wisdom.
God the Creator saw how lonely the turtle was and so decided to make him a close friend. He became an occasional visitor to the Turtle's home. He became too generous to the turtle and would always give him everything he wanted. All the turtle needed to do was to ask and it would be his.
The turtle who was notorious for playing pranks could not hold his itching buttocks and so decided to play a fast prank on the Creator. He wanted to outsmart the Creator and in that way gain more chicken in his poultry farm. He only has one male fowl given to him by his grandmother.
One day when the Creator visited him, the turtle decided it was time to play his prank, so he went into his inner room and brought out a kolanut and a stone. He handed the stone to the Creator and said.
"*It is in our culture to give kola to visitors. Here is your kolanut*".
The turtle broke his own kola and ate it. He insisted that the Creator breaks his stone and eat on the ground that visitors do not reject kola, but the creator replied.
"*If you put the ground on my head, then I'll eat your stone"*
Turtle: "*the ground is not a load, so how can I put it on your head*".
Creator: "*A stone is not a replacement for kolanut, so how can I eat it".*
Seeing that he could not outsmart the Creator, the turtle started to think of other ways to achieve his aim. When it was time for the Creator to go back to his home in heaven, an idea struck the turtle. He went inside and brought out a male fowl given to him by grandmother. He gave the fowl to the Creator and said to him.
"*This cockerel is about to lay eggs. I'll give it to you as a gift and I would like you to bring the chicks to me after they must have hatched*".
The Creator smiled and took the cockerel. *"A visitor never rejects gifts. I'll be back in three months time".*
After he Creator had left, the turtle was filled with joy over his ability to outsmart the Creator. He was patiently waiting for the three months to pass so that he could claim the chicks laid by a male fowl.
After three months had passed, the Creator visited the turtle again as promised. But he came without any chicks, he was empty-handed. When the turtle asked of the promised chicks, the Creator replied.
"*I used to chicks to save my father's life".*
Turtle: "*Do you have a father? What happened to him*".
Creator: "*He was in labour and needed some chicks to survive"*.
Turtle: "*Have you ever seen a man give birth or is your father a special man?"*
Creator: "*Have you ever seen a cockerel lay eggs or is your cockerel a special male?"*
Seeing that he could not outsmart the Creator, the turtle became infuriated. He had wanted to get extra fowls from the Creator though his prank but now he had even lost his only cockerel, so he began to make a scene. It was then that a few men and animals gathered and when they were told what happened, they shook their head and one of them said to the turtle.
"*You may have outsmarted others, but trying to outsmart you Creator is biting more than you can chew".*
The Creator went back to heaven and stopped visiting the Turtle's home. He also stopped being too generous to the turtle.
This tale is adapted from a folklore in my tribe. It is usually sung as a song featuring The conversations between God and the turtle.
Lead image from unsplash
HiThe idea behind some drawings I had scribbled
Hello dear friends. How're you all doing? Well I feel great over here. I have just decided to share stories surrounding drawings I had scribbled on my notebook. They do not really have the most heartwarming stories behind them, but I do hope you like them. I do not have any background in drawing artworks. I just like to scribble especially during the times I'm bored. Sometimes they turn out beautiful and sometimes they turn out bad, but they all have somethings in common- ***'they are boredom motivated'.***
The first I would like to share is the drawing of a lawyers wig***.***
I am a law intern and I usually attend court with my principal (the lawyer I intern under). One of those court days, the judge was delivering a judgement on a matter that had to do with a land dispute. She was using lots of boring land terminologies that made me feel sleepy and bored. I just began to admire the wigs worn by the lawyers in court and then the urge to scribble a wig came. I was surprised it came out so well and beautiful.
The next thing I scribbled is the image of a woman at the cover backpage of a book titled- ***Are you truly born again of water and the spirit by Paul C. Jong***.
*e spirit?*
I was reading the book and at some point got confused but I kept on reading. It was then that boredom set in and I began to nod off. I was at my senior counsel's office at that time. He never liked me noddie off or being too invested in my phone. So when he asked me to fight the sleep and keep reading, I just picked my pen and notebook and began to scribe the author's image. I'm bad at life drawing, so it was a way to sharpeny mind and get my focus back on track. I tried sha.
I also made a scribble of an old tree. This was done inside the court building. We were all waiting for the judge to arrive and commence court site for the day. The wait was so long, I think the judge was stuck in traffic that day. Everyone was bored including myself. I just picked my pen and scribbled this
I also scribbled another tree. A gmelina tree. I had followed my principal to a distant local government where he was to swear in some newly elected legislators.
After the swearing in ceremony, he asked me to wait in his car as he had wanted to discuss something with one of the dignitaries there. His car was parked under the shade of a gmelina tree, and after I had waited for what seemed an eternity, I decided to occupied my bored mind by drawing the gmelina tree. I was halfway through the drawing when he got back and we drove home. I never got to finish the drawing, not like I minded anyway
The last drawing I scribbled was done today. I finished drawing some lines on a notebook for my boss. With the ruler in my hands and nothing else to do, I just picked my book and started to draw lines.
I just moved with the flow of my hand and that was the product. I still don't know what I drew though.
That would be all there is for today. I'm not an artist but I do appreciate the little things I draw even though they turn ugly. Drawing is just my way of coping with boredom and as my mum would always say, "never have I had a book without drawing in it". I got beaten a lot in elementary school and in college for drawing in my books, but I never gave up. It is just my way of fighting boredom.
Thanks for coming by.
All image by me
Folktle: The Little red hen
In a barnyard, there was a Little Red Hen. She spent practically all of her time picking and pecking around the farm, looking for worms everywhere.
She believed that the health of her children depended entirely on the fat, tasty worms she so adored. She would yell "Chuck-chuck-chuck!" to her chicks each time she discovered a worm.
She would share flavorful bits of her snack with those who had gathered around her. She was one active little girl!
A cat would comfortably lie in the barn entrance, not even attempting to frighten the rat that ran around as he liked. The pig that resided in the sty, on the other hand, didn't care what occurred as long as he could eat and gain weight.
The Little Red Hen came across a Seed one day. Although it was a wheat seed, the Little Red Hen assumed it was some strange and possibly delicious form of meat because she was so used to eating bugs and worms. A Little Red Hen would easily be misled by it because it was long and slender, but she delicately bit it and discovered that it tasted nothing like a worm.
She carried it around and asked a lot of questions about it. She discovered it was a wheat seed and that, if planted, it would grow into a plant that could be harvested at its time for flour and bread-making.
When she realized it, she realized that it needed to be planted. Naturally, she believed she should not have taken the time to plant it because she was so busy gathering food for herself and her family.
She then thought about the Pig, who spends his time growing fat, the Cat, who was idle, and the large, fat Rat, who spent his useless hours, and she yelled aloud:
Who is going to plant the Seed?
But the Pig said, "Not I," and the Cat said, "Not I," and the Rat said, "Not I."
"Well, then," said the Little Red Hen, "I will."
And she did.
She continued to carry out her daily responsibilities throughout the long summer days, feeding her chicks and digging for worms as the Rat, Cat, and Pig all gained weight and the Wheat grew tall and ready for harvest.
One day, the Little Red Hen just so happened to observe how big the wheat was and how the grain was ripe, so she hurried around yelling. "Who will cut the Wheat?"
The Pig said, "Not I," the Cat said, "Not I," and the Rat said, "Not I."
"Well, then," said the Little Red Hen, "I will."
And she did.
She took the sickle from the farmer's tools in the barn and proceeded to cut off the entire large plant of Wheat.
Mrs. Hen's chicks set up a "peep-peep-peeping" in their most vigorous fashion, proclaiming to the world at large, but especially to their mother, that she was neglecting them.
Little Red Hen! She was completely perplexed and didn't know where to turn.
Her attention was torn between her responsibilities to her children and her responsibilities to the Wheat, for which she felt responsible.
So, again, in a very hopeful tone, she called out, "Who will thresh the Wheat?"
But the Pig, with a grunt, said, "Not I," and the Cat, with a meow, said, "Not I," and the Rat, with a squeak, said, "Not I."
So the Little Red Hen looked discouraged but she still said, "Well, I will, then."
And she did.
She had to first find works for her babies Before threshing the wheat. Then she called out: "Who will carry the Wheat to the mill to be ground?"
Turning their backs with snippy glee, that Pig said, "Not I," and that Cat said, "Not I," and that Rat said, "Not I."
So the good Little Red Hen could do nothing but say, "I will then." And she did.
And off she went to the distant mill where the wheat was grounded into fine powder. On her way back from the mill, she still managed to catch some juicy worms for herself and her babies.
After the stressful day, she went to bed on time so she could get much needed rest, but the quacking of her chick did not let her sleep. They were simply too demanding. She felt sleepy and tired through the day. She still knew that he wheat must be made into bread. So after she had taken care of her babies, she went to seek help from the pig, cat and rat
Still confident that they would surely help her some day she sang out, "Who will make the bread?"
But once more, her hopes were dashed! For the Pig said, "Not I," the Cat said, "Not I," and the Rat said, "Not I."
So the Little Red Hen said once more, "I will then," and she did.
And she set to work in kneading the dough. Soon enough, she has placed the bread in an oven to bake. The pig still lay in his pen dozing and snoring. The rat just sat by the mirror admiring himself and the cat who was too lazy to chase the cat just sat by the door post.
At last the great moment arrived. A delicious odor was wafted upon the autumn breeze. Everywhere the barnyard citizens sniffed the air with delight.
The red hen ruched to the source of this delicious smell and opened the oven. The bread was well baked and even though she did not know if it was for to be eaten, she was still very happy.
The Red Hen out of habit called: "Who will eat the Bread?"
All the animals in the barnyard were watching hungrily and smacking their lips in anticipation, and the Pig said, "I will," the Cat said, "I will," the Rat said, "I will."
But the Little Red Hen said,
"No, you won't. I will."
And she did.
The end😍
Lead image from shutterstock
Sunday well spent
Hey readcashers. How are you all doing. Yesterday i eas supposed to a post an article, but i woke up this morning to realize that I had not posted it. Since I've got no new topic to write about, I just have to make do with my yesterday's article.
Yesterday's article:
Today was another DIY day for me. I would say it was a productive way to begin the week. I woke up as early as 5am to attend today's church service. I love to attend the early morning service (6am-8am). I joined the bulletin group not too long ago and what we do is share pamphlets containing the Sunday readings. It is a fun thing to do and it is omotivatesne out of the many things that motivate me to attend church services regularly. I love to see people's smiling faces as they collect the pamphlets from me and sometimes utter a word of thank you to me.
That's by the way. I came back from church around 8:30am and decided to sew some ankara cloth given to me by my mum. It was a free gift from her for my birthday. In case you don't know, Ankara is a name for colorful wax fabric prints made in Africa. It is usually measured in yards and six yards of it makes a piece. I was gifted a piece.
I planned to hand the materials over to a tailor, but the amount he asked me to pay was too much. I knew how to make clothes, I just didn't want to make any mistakes that would spoil my cloth because I'm a newbie in the sewing world. But since taking the cloth to a tailor would cost me a lot, I decided to make the dress myself.
The spirit of cutting and sewing the cloth came to me this morning after church service. So I gathered the little seeing materials I had; a pair of scissors, a chalk, a measuring tape and most importantly my ankara material. I had no ruler for drawing lines neither do I have a pattern papper, but I didn't mind.
I started by first taking my measurements. It is said that one cannot take his cloth measurements himself but that saying holds no candle to my style of doing things. I took the measurements myself and don't think too much, they turned out accurate. Besides, even without checking, I can say my body measurements accurately.
I folded the ankara material in four and began to trace out the body measurements I had earlier taken. I know I wasn't supposed to measure directly on my fabric but I still took the risk.
I was supposed to have a pattern paper but I still didn't mind. That is a bad sewing habit though. After tracing, I cut it out with my scissors and took it to the sewing machine where I joined the necessary parts. I made sure to have my pressing iron ready to straighten some needed parts. The cloth materials needed straightening so I wouldn't end up with a rough work.
I was a bit unlucky as electricity got disconnected in between my ironings. I had to do without it as I was in a haste to finish sewing. You see, I needed to complete all my sewing projects before going back to school as ASUU has called off their eight month old academic strike.
I was not able to finish joining the fabric because there was no light. The ones i joined gave a lot of hard time, especially the zipper part. It was hard trying to make neat stitches for the zip but I'm proud to say that I did it😊
Hopefully I will be finishing the work tomorrow, but that would be after I'm back from work I can't wait to see what I have created.
By the way,I just realized that I haven't cut out the hand of my fabric😩. They would probably be holding my funeral if this were a customer's cloth. I really do hope my cloth comes out nice, but I'll still be ok with whatever outcome knowing that I'm not a professional
All images are original
Thanks for coming by today😍
Folktale: Why snails are slow
Long ago in the animal kingdom, the snail family was one of the fastest in the land. Stories had it that they were so fast that they could compare with the hare, but they had one problem. They were too destructive and greedy, and they would always want everything for themselves. They had no respect for what belonged to others and they were too lazy to work or even hunt for their survival. They became the nightmare of other animals as well as the human farmers. They would occasionally destroy the vegetables and green leaves in people’s farms, leaving the farmers with nothing. Sometimes, the farmers catch them causing destruction to their farms, but because they are too fast, they run away and if the farmer makes any effort to chase them, he would end up falling and cursing at them. Not even the traps set by the farmers could catch the snails.
This led all the human farmers to embark on a long journey to the deserted mountain to ask the mountain witch for help. The mountain witch was an old woman who was feared and respected by both man and animal. She was known as the bringer of doom to the wicked hearted. She promised to help the farmers get their revenge on the mischievous snails.
The mountain witch decided to build a hut somewhere deep in the forest. She cultivated a portion of the forest and planted lots of attractive vegetables and other plants that the snails liked to eat. The land she had cultivated was near a road path wildly used by snails. She watered her plants always and made sure to weed it when necessary.
It did not take long before the snails noticed the old witch’s farm. They did not know that the farm belonged to a witch so they planned on a day to destroy the plants in the farm. One day when the old witch came to water her plants, she discovered that they had been destroyed by the notorious snails. She smiled and went back to her hut. The following day, she came and planted weeds and other things she knew that snails do not eat. She made sure to water them daily until they grew plump and attractive.
When the snails saw the weeds the old lady had planted, they decided to destroy it. They went to her farm and cut down the shrubs and weeds, packed them together and took them to the old witch’s doorstep. When the witch woke up the following day, she saw the weed heaped at her doorstep and smiled.
She took the weed inside and decided to cook a portion with them. she was able to make a slimy portion out of the weeds. After she was satisfied with the portion she had made, she sent an invitation to all the snails in the forest saying
“I had planted some special weed in my farm and when I was too lazy to harvest them, you gathered them out of your goodwill and sent them to my doorstep. I therefore invite you to a dinner at my house as a thank you for the kindness you have shown me”
When the snails received the invitation, they decided to go enjoy the free meal at the witch’s hut. The witch welcomed them with a smiling face and fed them the slimy portion she had made. They found the food strange but because it tasted good, they ate it all. Some of them even stole extra food from the witch’s pot. The witch saw it all but still continued to smile at them.
It was after they had left the witch’s hut that they began to notice the changes in their body. They could not move as fast as they usually did and their body became very slimy. They needed moisture at all time to keep their body from drying out and enable them get more oxygen. When the weather turned hot and dry, their body begins to dry out.
They looked for the old witch to reverse the curse she had placed on them, but she was nowhere to be found. Some of them decided to go live in the water where there will be no sun to dry their body.
`© Sylv_Sylv`
Lead image from unsplash
Folktale: The Tortoise, the Dog and the Farmer
There was once a famine in the land of the animals because the dry season had lasted longer than usual. There was no rain in the land, and every animal was thin and unhealthy due to the scarcity of food. The land was too dry to germinate any seed. The tortoise was one of those suffering the hardships of the famine. Hunger had made him look smaller than his shell. On the other hand, he noticed that his friend, the dog, appeared to be in good health. He decided to find out what the secret to the dog's happiness was.
The tortoise decided to pay his friend, the dog, a visit the next day.
The tortoise arrived at his home and was well received. The dog entertained him with some richly cooked yam porridge. This surprised tortoise since no animal could afford a decent meal at that time of the famine. He asked his friend to tell him the secret of how he was able to afford some food. He also wanted to look as healthy and well fed as the dog looked but thee dog answered, "There is no secret to it, my wonderful friend; all of my hard work has paid off".
The tortoise decided to pursue the matter further after the dog's response did not fool him. He remarked to his friend, "I know you have a way to stop this hunger, so tell me, and I'll keep it a secret." The dog, however refused to tell him but claimed he was a successful farmer. The tortoise thanked him and then went home, but he could not get the problem out of his head, so he devised a scheme.
It was obvious to him that the dog was a lazy animal in terms of farm work. He preferred hunting to farming, so why would he suddenly become a successful farmer during the period when hardworking farmers could not afford to feed.
He decided that the only way to know the truth was to trail the dog's whereabouts the following day. He watched the dog depart the house quite early in the morning while hiding behind a tree. Keeping a safe distance behind the dog at all times, he followed him all the way to the next animal kingdom.
The dog arrived at a farm and, after making sure no one was looking, began gathering yam from the farm into his basket. The tortoise then let the dog know he was there. The dog was horrified that his friend the tortoise would go to such lengths to find out the truth. He had been caught at his game and had no option but to tell the tortoise the truth He made the bad decision to reveal his theft from another person's farm to the tortoise.
After the big revelation, both the dog and tortoise began to go every morning to steal yam from the farmer's farm. The tortoise took a little bit more each time they went than the day before. The dog realized that the longer it took them to return home, the more yams the tortoise added each day, so he made the decision to warn him. "My dear friend the tortoise, the amount of yam you bring home every day is getting out of hand. We left for home pretty early yesterday but arrived extremely late. We might be discovered by the farmer, and that would be the last of us. "Don't worry, dear friend; I'm keeping plenty yam at home for the rainy day," the tortoise retorted casually. "The farmer will never ever catch us".
”"I don't think you should be greedy; you could get us in trouble if we harvest more yam than we can carry. We should harvest what is easily enough to avoid being caught by the farmer," the dog expressed his concern.
So early in the morning on the next day after they were done loading their basket with stolen yams, the dog announced that he was leaving for home. However, the tortoise begged for more time to harvest yam. Soon after, the dog put his basket on his head and began walking home. The tortoise became aware of this and chased after the dog.
"Dog, wait for me, wait for me; I can't carry my basket by myself because it's too heavy; please assist me,"
The dog, on the other hand, refused to listen and dashed away from the farm. The tortoise pleaded for hours, but the dog had long since vanished.
Because the tortoise was carrying an extremely heavy basket full of yams, he was too slow and before he could leave the farm, he was caught by the farmer who had come to check on his crops. When the farmer arrived at his farm, he discovered the tortoise with a basket full of his yam. He handed him over to the king's men, who brought the tortoise to justice. When the dog saw what had happened to his friend tortoise, he was terrified, and he realized how unjust his actions had been toward the farmer. From then on, he resolved never to take anything that did not belong to him in order to avoid getting into trouble like the tortoise.
Thanks for visiting 💖
Lead image from Google
Folktale: Sultan and the stupid wolf
Bohemia
A peasant family once owned a watchdog by the name of Sultan as one of their domestic pets. The dog got old, and the peasant chased him away because he thought he could no longer perform his responsibilities effectively. The dog left the village feeling defeated and with his head hung low, muttering, "So this is what I get for sticking with a tough job. They chase me away and don't let me rest now that I'm old and frail after using all my youthful and active years at work."
He sadly continued on his way, wandering aimlessly for many days without finding any suitable shelter. He arrived in a forest, emaciated and exhausted from his long journey. A wolf emerged from the woods, ran up to the helpless dog, and cried, "Stop, old man! Beware, you are now under my control."
When he heard the wolf speak in this manner, the terrified old Sultan exclaimed, "Take a good look at me, dear friend, and your desire for me will vanish. I'd make the worst roast you've ever had because I'm nothing but skin and bones. But I do have some suggestions for you."
"I don't need your advice, you miserable creature," the wolf said. Even before you say it, I know what you're going to say: I should let you live. No, I'm not going to change my mind. "To cut a long story short, I'm going to eat you."
"I wouldn't think of asking that of you, because I don't want to live any longer," the dog replied. Bite away for as long as you want. But I do have some sound advice for you. Isn't it better to fatten me up first before eating me? You'd lose nothing on the feed because you'd get it all back on me. Then I'd make a good roast. What do you think, Brother Wolf?"
The wolf said something "If the feeding isn't too long, I'll do it. Accompany me to my hut."
This was done by the dog, and they went deeper into the woods together. Sultan crept inside the hut while the wolf went out to hunt some game for the weak dog. When he got back, he threw his capture to Sultan, who devoured it.
The wolf appeared the next day and addressed the dog, "You ate the day before. Today I'm going to eat."
The dog's response was, "What are you contemplating, dear wolf? I barely felt the food from yesterday in my stomach."
This irritated the wolf, but he had to be content with returning to the woods to hunt game for the dog. Our Sultan put off the wolf with similar responses as long as he was not strong enough to fight the wolf. The wolf kept hunting and bringing whatever he caught to the dog, eating little or nothing himself so Sultan would have enough. As a result, the dog grew in strength, while the wolf grew in weakness.
The wolf approached the dog on the sixth day and said, "I believe you are ready now."
Sultan responded, "Yes, absolutely. To be sure, I'm feeling so good that I'll take you on unless you let me go."
The wolf spoke up "You've got to be kidding! Consider this: I've been feeding you for six days while eating nothing. Is it now my fate to leave with nothing? That will not do!"
"You are partially correct," Sultan replied, "but does that give you the right to eat me up?"
"That is the right of the strong over the weak," the wolf replied.
"All right!" said the dog. "You have thus passed judgment on yourself." With these words, he took a risky leap, and before the wolf knew it, he was on the ground, defeated by Sultan.
"Because you allowed me to live, I will not kill you right away, but will instead leave your life to chance. Choose two friends to accompany you, and I will do the same. Come here in the woods with them tomorrow, and we'll settle our dispute."
The two split up to find their fellow warriors. The wolf walked deeper into the woods, furious. The dog dashed to the nearest town. After much begging, the wolf was granted the company of an ill-tempered, grumbling bear and a cunning fox.
Our Sultan was the first to rush to the parsonage, where he persuaded a large gray cat to accompany him. Then he went to the barnyard of the town judge, where he found a brave rooster as a second fellow warrior.
When Sultan met and fought with the fox, the fox was defeated and so went home in shame with it's tail between the legs.
The news of the brave deeds of Sultan spread far and wide, also to the village where Sultan had formerly served. The peasant family took back their loyal watchdog and cared for him.
Thanks for reading ❤️
Lead image from unsplash.com
Folktale: Fated Frog Wife
The Frog's Skin
Three brothers previously desired to be married. Let's each shoot an arrow, and then each of us takes our wife from the spot where the arrow lands, they said. The two older brothers' arrows struck houses owned by noblemen, while the youngest brother's arrow landed in a lake. The youngest brother went to the lake's shore as the two older brothers led home their noble wives. He observed a frog emerge from the water and take a seat on a rock. He picked it up and carried it inside. The elder brothers returned home with the noble maidens, while the youngest brother brought a frog. Each brother had received something from fate.
The brothers left for work. The wives cooked dinner and took care of all household chores. The frog croaked by the fire, and its eyes sparkled. They lived together in love and harmony for a long time.
The sisters-in-law eventually grew tired of seeing the frog. They threw the frog out with the dust when they swept the house. If the youngest brother found it, he picked it up; if not, the frog would leap back to its spot by the fire and start croaking. "Drive this frog out, and get a real wife for your brother," the noble sisters said to their husbands. The brothers bothered the youngest every day.
He responded by saying, "This frog is undoubtedly my fate. I am not deserving of anything better. I have to stick to it." His sisters-in-law persisted in convincing their husbands that the brother and his frog needed to be removed, and they eventually agreed.
The young brother was now completely alone. There was no one to prepare his food or stand guard at the door. A neighboring woman came to wait on him for a short time, but she was pressed for time, so he was left alone. The man became depressed.
He went to work while reflecting on his loneliness. He went home after completing his day's work. He was taken aback when he looked inside his house. The sideboard was well stocked; a cloth was spread in one spot, and many different types of tempting dishes were spread on the cloth. He looked around and saw the frog croaking in its place. He went back to work, convinced that his sisters-in-law had done it for him. He worked all day and returned home to find everything ready for him.
"I will see for myself who this unseen benefactor is, who comes to do good to me and look after me," he once said to himself. He stayed home that day and sat on the roof to observe from a distance. The frog quickly jumped out of the fireplace and across to the doors before jumping all over the place. When it returned and removed the frog's skin from the fire after realizing no one was there, a stunning young woman who was as fair as the sun emerged. The man was unable to think of a more beautiful woman than her. She cleaned up everything, made the food, and cooked it in the blink of an eye. She went to the fire, put on the skin once more, and started to croak when everything was ready. The man was shocked beyond belief when he saw this; he rejoiced exceedingly that God had granted him such happiness. He descended from the roof, went in, caressed his frog tenderly, and then sat down to his tasty supper.
The next day the man hid himself in the place where he had been the day before. The frog, having satisfied itself that nobody was there, stripped off its skin and began its good work. This time the man stole silently into the house, seized the frog's skin in his hand and threw it into the fire. When the maiden saw this she entreated him, she wept, and she said, "Do not burn it, or you shall surely be destroyed," but the man had burned it in a moment. "Now, if your happiness be turned to misery, it is not my fault," said the sorrow-stricken woman.
In a very short time the whole countryside knew that the man who had a frog now possessed in its place a lovely woman, who had come to him from heaven.
The king of that country soon heard of the woman's beauty and decided to posses her for himself. He called the young man and told him to either sow a barn full of grain in a day or hand over his wife. The man went home to his wife and told her the sad news. She said to him, "I told you what would happen if you burn the skin, but you refused to listen; but I will not blame you. Go in the morning to the edge of the lake from which I came, and call out, 'Mother and Father! I pray you, lend me your swift bullocks.' Lead them away with you, and the bullocks will in one day plow the fields and sow the grain." The husband did this and the field was plowed and grains planted by him that day.
His king was very surprised. He did not know if there was anything impossible to this man, whose wife he wanted. He called him a second time, and said, "Go and harvest the wheat you have sown, no grain should remain and the barn should not be full. If you do not do this, your wife is mine."
"This is impossible," said the man to himself. He went home to his wife, who again reproached him, and then said, "Go to the lake's edge and ask for the jackdaws. The man did as instructed and soon harvested the whole wheat.
Seeing that the man could not be defeated, the king called and said to him, "My mother, who died in this village, took with her a ring. If you go to the other world and bring that ring back to me, it is well; if not, I shall take away your wife."
The man was depressed and went to his wife but she said to him, "Go to the lake and ask for the ram." The husband did as he was told and a ram with a twisted horn took him to the spirit world to retrieve the ring
The journey was demanding but he was successful. The spirit of the king's mother who was angry for being disturbed gave the man a little box as a present for the king. She told him to hand the gift to the king and tun away as soon as possible.
When the man came back to earth, he gave the box to the king and ran back to his house. When the king opened the box, fire came out of it and consumed him. The man had no one to compete over his wife again, so he went home with her and they lived happy ever after.
Thanks for reading ❤️
Lead image from unsplash.com
Folktale: Why the pig sniff around.
Good day readlanders. How has your day been. I hope it is going well. I would like to spice up your day with another folktale from the animal kingdom. The tortoise is known to be the King of pranks and the mastermind of evils in African folktales. African folktales has painted him to always have a connection with lot of things or characteristics that other animals are known for. One of such animals is the pig. The pig's attitude of digging the earth and sniffing around has been attributed to one of the pranks or tricks of Mr Tortoise. One who sees a pig sniffing and digging around would think with that it is only on it natural search for food but folktales tells us otherwise.
The tortoise and the pig wer e great friends. They invested together in business ventures and would always share their profits. The pig was a single man while the tortoise was a family man with lots of financial issues. One day after they had shared the profit from one of their business ventures, the tortoise realised that his own share of the money would not be enough to feed his family for the day, so he pleaded with the pig to lend him his own share of the money. The pig readily agreed to this after Mr Tortoise had promised to pay back in two market days.
When it was time to repay his debt, tortoise took the money to Mr pig, but was told him to keep the money and use it in providing for his family and solving other financial issues. Mr tortoise was very happy and so went home with the money. He still continued in his business ventures with the tortoise.
After a year had passed, they both had a misunderstanding. That day, the tortoise decided to take the larger share of their profit for the day. He was of the opinion that since he was a family man, he deserved a larger share from their profits. The pig was against the idea and this sparked a long term misunderstanding between them. It was at this moment that the pig told the tortoise to pay back the money that was lent to him over a year ago, but the tortoise refused to pay because the money had been given as a free gift.
The pig began to visit and harass the tortoise in his house everyday over the debt. The tortoise had to report the matter to the king who sided with the pig and asked the tortoise to repay the one year old.
On the day tortoise had agreed to pay back the money, he invited the pig to his house. When it was time for the pig to come collect his money, tortoise decided to step out for a while.
When the pig arrived to collect his money, he did not see tortoise but saw his wife grinding pepper on a grindstone. He decided to question tortoise's wife about the whereabout of her husband, but because she was partially deaf, she couldn't hear him neither did she pay him any attention. Out of anger for being ignored, the pig took the grindstone and threw it away.
Tortoise who was on his way back home saw the whole incident and so decided to teach the pig a lesson. He picked the grindstone and hid it in a secure place. He then approached the pig who was already furious. He looked at both his wife and the pig and said,
"Before I left the house, I tied your money to my wife's grindstone to keep it safe" (this was a lie)
He turned to his wife and asked her to bring out the grindstone. He feigned to be shocked when his wife told him that the pig had flung the grindstone away.
The pig was told that the only way to get back his money was to find the grindstone he had thrown away out of anger. Till today the pig still sniffs the ground in search of that grindstone. He still hasn't collected his money from the tortoise.
Thanks for reading ❤️
Lead image from unsplash
False News hardly Fade Away
The deliberate spread of false information with the intention of harming someone's reputation, making people think otherwise about what is true, motivating the public to rebel against the government, and, most distressingly, wreaking havoc in society is referred to as fake news.
Fake news is not a new phenomenon in the world. It has been there even before social media came to be. With the existence of man came fake news. Many people engage in it for a variety of reasons, which can be divided into two categories. The first is disinformation, which is false information that is purposefully created and spread in order to influence public opinion on a subject or to conceal the truth.
The second type of misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is created or spread by mistake or unconsciously.
In my country, people who spread disinformation are popularly referred to as “radio without battery”. Even though social media has expanded the operation of the ‘radio without battery’ through its more extensive reach, speed, and low costs, word of mouth continues to be a fundamental way in which falsehoods are spread in the country, particularly in rural areas. During the time when the first cases of Ebola virus was reported, series of false news about how to prevent the the virus surfaced and spread throughout the country. The false news started in the rural areas was that the only way to avoid being infected with Ebola was by pouring 50cl salt in one or two cups of water and drinking it. This fake news spread like wildfire and soon entered social media. Many families were reported to have lost their lives after consuming this mixture. It was after lots of deaths were reported that people began to debunk this fake news.
Fake news when spread are hard to erase. The existence of social media has helped to increase the damaging effects. Just a phone call or even a tweet and a recently generated fake news will be spread throughout the world. Other news aimed at suppressing the fake news will usually have little or no effect. Can you imagine that up till today, the fake news about immunization that was generated way before I was born has not yet been erased. When I was still in elementary school, immunization workers would always come to schools to immunize us but we make sure to run away from them because our parents had told us that immunization causes a strange sickness without cure. Even now that I am an adults, I still see lots of parents that refuse to immunize their children because they still hold on to such false news.
Sometimes I think that the reason why fake news are more believable is because the spreaders are so crafty that they make sure to give you instances that are hard to disprove if you are uninformed.
Fake news has done more harm and no good to the society. Imagine the panic the Americans were put into when on 10 August 1919 the Washington Herald ran the headline: ‘Planets Moving Into Huge Danger Zone; Earth Will Stagger From Mighty Shock’. Explosion of flaming gases leaping hundreds of thousands of miles out into space was predicted as well as lightening, hurricanes and great earthquakes that would take place for four days. People who read that paper were thrown in distress. That is what fake news can do. It can make people commit suicide just to evade the destruction predicted on them. How would you feel being the reason for chaos and deaths just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut.
Some people engage in spreading fake news because they want people to pay them attention but there are better ways to get that attention. Do something industrious and the attention would be all yours.
Do not be a 'radio without battery'. Do not be know as a spreader of fake news, else you will turn untrustworthy in any society you find yourself.
Folktale: The proud Obaledo
Folktales are said to be fictitious and totally lack truth in them. They are just moral stories usually set in imaginary lands where impossibilities are made possible, and their aim is to impact morals and positive values in people especially in children.
There is no country in the world where folktale is unknown. It is the easiest way to give advice and the person being advised does not feel bored. Folktales are not foreign in my country Nigeria especially my tribe - Igbo. Obaledo is a fictional tale that advices women on the risks of marrying or befriending men who are strangers simply because they find them attractive.
It tells the story of a beautiful young maiden Obaledo who was born in a time when spirits roamed freely among men. Lots of men in the community found her attractive and so made marriage proposals. But because she was too proud and was unwilling to submit herself and her beauty to any man, she insulted and rejected them all. According to her, they were too ugly to meet her beauty standards. She had her own definition of a perfectly handsome man.
Her parents adviced her to pick a man from all of her suitors but she refused. Her beauty was not to be given away to common people. Her fame and beauty spread across the land.
At that time, there was a spirit in the form of a skull who roamed the land of the living. He heard about the beauty and pride of Obaledo and swore to marry her so as to teach her a lesson. So he went to different places in the world and borrowed body parts from different people. After he became as complete as a human, he went in search of Obaledo to take her as a wife. Obaledo did not waste time in accepting him because he was the most perfect man she had ever seen.
Her parents kicked against the marriage. According to them, a woman should not marry a stranger she knows nothing about. Obaledo was too stubborn to pay attention to their advice so she went ahead to marry the spirit skull in human disguise.
After the marriage, Obaledo followed her husband home. The journey was too long but she didn't mind. Even when they walked through a forest, Al she could tell herself was not to worry because she was in the company of a handsome husband. Her husband took her to an abandoned hut in the middle of the forest and kept her there. His mother who was also a spirit lived there. She was nice and welcoming to Obaledo but Obaledo was frightened to see a woman walking with her head on the ground. It was when she looked back that she realized her husband had turned into a skull. She was frightened and tried to run away but was unsuccessful. The spirit Skull cursed her to be ugly for trying to run away from him.
From that moment on, he made the now ugly Obaledo a slave to himself and other Spirits. The only spirit who was kind to her was the spirit Skull's mother. She was so nice to Obaledo that when she realized the poor girl has learnt her lesson not to be proud again,she helped her escape from the spirit world.
When Obaledo came back to her family, they were happy and accepted her even with her now ugly face. She stopped being proud but could not find a husband as all the men that wanted to marry her before now found her ugly. She was only able to marry after her father found a husband for her.
`Thanks for reading.`
Lead image downloaded from Google
Fiction: Whose Ruler?
When Mrs Edon came home one evening after seeing her mother who was in hospital, she heard Enid and Ona shouting at each other. They were shouting so loudly that she could hear what they were saying a long time before she had reached the house. Oh! How loud these kids can be when they argue.
'*Give me my ruler!*' shouted Enid.
*'It's not your ruler, it's mine!'* shouted Ona.
'*No, it's not. You forgot yours. It's at school'.*
'*No, I didn't. You forgot to bring yours, and now you want to take mine. Well, you won't!'*
'*No, I didn't forget mine at school. You just took it forcefully from me.'*
'*It is mine not yours.'*
*'Children! children! Be quiet,'* said Mrs Edon as soon as she was inside the house*, 'Stop shout*ing *at once! All the neighbours will hear you. I could hear every word you were shouting when I was at the other end of the road. Must you both be so noisy especially when you argue?'*
Enid and Ona looked down at the floor, but Ona still held the ruler.
*'I'm sorry I shouted, Mother,'* she said, "*but it is my ruler. It isn't his."*
*'No, Mother,' said Enid, 'it's not hers. It's mine.'*
*'Well,'* said their mother, '*I'm glad I came home early. But I can't understand why you are shouting at each other. Did your teacher tell you only to draw lines with a ruler, Enid?'*
*'No, Mother.'*
'*What did your teacher tell you to do One...? To draw lines all evening?'*
'*No, Mother,*' replied Ona.
'*Well then, it's easy,*' said their mother, '*if it's Enid's ruler, he won't want it all the time; so he can lend it to you, Ona, when you want it. And if it's yours, you can lend it to Enid. Now, tell me the truth. Whose is it?'*
But they both said, *'It's mine!*'
Mrs Edon looked at them unhappily, and shook her head.
'*You both want a ruler for your work this evening? Your father won't be pleased when I tell him he'll have to buy another ruler.. but if you both say it's yours, and you both want a ruler for your work.. . I'll have to break it, and give half to each of you.'*
'*No*!' said Enid.
'*No*!' said Ona.
Mrs Edon said nothing, but she took the ruler from Ona and held it in both her hands. Enid and Ona looked at her. She was going to break it!
'*Mother*,' said Enid very quietly, '*I* *think I made a mistake. I couldn't see it very well when Ona was holding it. Now you're holding it, I can see it better. It isn't mine after all. It's her*s."
Mrs Edon looked at Enid, '*l'm glad* *you told the truth,*' she said, '*and* *because you did, I won't tell your father anything about it. Besides you just did what a good boy should do.'*
She turned to Ona, '*Here you are*,' she said, '*but you must promise to lend it to Enid when he asks for it.'*
'*I promise*,' said Ona, taking the ruler.
'*And, Enid, will you promise to give it back to Ona when she wants it?'*
*'Yes, Mother, I will.*'
Folktale: Why Thunder and Lightening live in the sky
Both Thunder and Lightning were once among the inhabitants of this planet. Lightning was Thunder's ram-like son, while Thunder was a mother sheep.
Lightning was a highly naughty individual who, in his rage, would go around setting fire to homes and limbing trees. Even on the farms, he caused harm and occasionally even killed people.When the Lightning did these things, his mother would scream at him to stop and stop causing harm, but the lightning did not give the slightest attention to what she said. He used to cause a tremendous amount of harm if he lost his temper.
Finally, the town had had enough and complained to the king about the damage caused by Lightning and the intolerable noise that always accompanied one of his outbursts from his mother.
Thunder and Lightning were commanded to leave the town and live alone in the distant bushes by the king, who was worried about the welfare of his people. That, however, did not really change anything. The ram would shout loudly and set fire to the woodland each time he lost his cool. There would occasionally be a spread of the forest fire that would burn the village homes.
The people once more complained to the king. He gathered all of his advisors to give him advice, and after much deliberation, they came up with a plan. Why not send Thunder and Lightning to live in the sky and fully exile them from the land. So the king issued this directive. The people chased Thunder and Lightning into the sky in the hopes that they would be unable to cause any more harm.
Since then, Lightning always starts fires and creates havoc when he is upset, and his mother keeps yelling at him to stop the destruction. Because of this, dazzling lightning is always visible in the sky, followed by booming thunder. Sometimes, even when the mother is exhausted or busy with other tasks, you can still see lightning generating flames, but you can't hear the mother's voice.
Thanks for reading
Nature in it's splendor
The word nature is employed in various contexts. The numerous types of plants, animals, and fauna as well as everything on the earth's landscape, including its mountains, valleys, beaches, forests and seas, may be the most significant reference. The splendor or beauty of nature, the amazing range of living things that exist across the world, as well as the special topography of mountains, lakes, plateaus, and woods, are what define the beauty of man. Each of these characteristics has a unique beauty that sets it apart from other terrain, and this tremendous variety allowed people plenty of room to find peace, quiet, and calm.
Man is a creature who craves beauty by nature, and there is nothing more lovely than the natural world.
The beauty of nature can be seen in many different ways since it has many different expressions.
A manifestation of these features will always be there wherever a person turns their face.
Perhaps the most noticeable of them is the extraordinary variety of colors in our environment, which combined to form a beautiful natural artwork. Variations in sizes and shapes—even amongst members of the same species—are examples of other manifestations.
The lovely fragrances of some natural plants, such as flowers, fruits, especially citrus, and flowers, which are associated with particular seasons and times, such as the smell of the land after a rain, are, on the other hand, one of the finest demonstrations of nature's beauty.
Nature's splendor is all around us. One of God's greatest blessings to us is the beauty of the world around us. This beauty gives us the freedom to choose from a wide variety of locations for the sake of relaxation, entertainment, and the best of times.
This is demonstrated by the enormous amount of works of poetry, music, and art that have drawn audiences from all over the world and are inspired by the beauty and allure of nature.
Many nations around the world rely on tourism to boost their economies, and the beauty of the natural world has given rise to many places renowned for their unfathomable natural beauty. The most notable of these places are the Eiffel Tower, Amazon River, The Great Wall of China, The Dead Sea, Niagra Falls, the Jeita Grotto, Mount Teppel and the others which go a long way in contributing to the wealth of the countries they are located in.
Thanks for reading 💖
`All images are downloaded from Google`
Knowing your native language
Hello read dot cashers. How are you all doing. It has been a while since I last came in here. Three days to be precise. There was a heavy thunderstorm last week that caused a disruption in our power supply. I haven't been able to charge my phone since then. They have carried out the necessary repairs and now we have light. Well I was surprised that they were able to restore the light within 4 days because when such things happen usually stay for a month without any power supply.
By the way Nigeria celebrated her 62nd independence anniversary on October 1st. I am so happy for her. We have gone a long way. Even in the eyes of adversity. Even though we have faced times of violence and peace, threatening separation and unity, retrogression and progress, we still stand strong as one country. God surely sees us through.
Today I wanted to share my experience I have had write your primary school into secondary school. it is the experience of the Prohibition of native language speaking in schools. I don't know if this was ever a rule in other countries, but as a Nigerian who attended both his primary and secondary education in Nigeria, speaking native language in class comes with penalty. It was either you speak English or you just keep quiet. English was not a language we were conversant with, so there were lots of defaulter. The punishment for defaulting was usually a few painful strokes of cane or even weeding tell school compound.
I remember one time, two of my classmates were involved in a fight. One of them was good in English while we other was new to the school and didn't know how to speak English. The guy who wasn't good in English was Modestus. The class liked to make fun of his name. He never reacted to us because he couldn't speak English and didn't want to be punished for speaking his native language. Modestus had thrown the first punch after one of the students called him 'monday-tools' repeatedly. When the teacher canme to separate them, they were asked to explain what caused the fight. Modestus who couldn't speak English was forced to piece together the little he knew. He just said, "that boy was call my name and embarrassment". It was a day of laughter for us. He was still punished by the teacher for not speaking correct English.
So one thing we were tasked to do was not to know how to speak English but to be fluent in it. These teachers forgot that our native language is also important. We were allowed to not know our native language but are forced to know that foreign one. Even some parents are not left out in this training. They force their children to speak and know only English. I had a friend in my childhood days that was not allowed to speak Igbo by her parents. If she defaults, there would be no meat in her soup.
It is true that one needs to know the accepted general language of his country, but I do not support that being at the expense of his native language. How else are we supposed to recognize ourselves if we travel out of the country if not through our native language. How can you even preserve your culture if you do not even know the basic thing about yourself which is your language.
I feel like it is an eyesore to see a full grown adult struggle to learn how to speak his language when he has parents that are fluent in it. What happened to childhood days? Why wasn't he taught? It baffles me to see parents who think that because they are well educated, native language is too old fashioned for their children to learn.
It doesn't matter if my children will be born in Europe or Asia or America or any part of the world, they must know their native language. I'll be sure to speak that to them because I believe that it is from knowing your language that you begin to appreciate the content of your culture.
Are you a supporter of knowingbones native language?
Silly things done around us 1
Hey readlanders. How's your day going. Well I thank God for life. Today I wouldn like to talk about the silly things we witness everyday especially in our neighborhoods. I had an experience this morning that prompted me to write about this. While I was on my way to work, a young man approached me and wanted to market his medicines to me. According to him, the medicines are produced by an international company and people get lots of financial gains for becoming their marketers. I was shocked, the only place to get medicines should be in pharmacy shops and hospital. The guy told me that anybody can sell the medicines, whether educated or not.
He approached me because he noticed I was wearing medicated glasses and according to him, he had the perfect medicines to to make my vision bright in two weeks. I first looked this guy from head to toe and decided to access him, not like I was interested in what he was marketing. I asked me why he was wearing glasses himself when his products can help with his eyes. He replied that it was not all types of eye problems that can be cured with the medicines. That earned a laugh from me. When I asked why he agreed to market international medicines on the streets, he told me it was because when you market a specific number of drug products, you become a millionaire in the company and begin to go on all expenses paid vacations outside the country.
That to me was so silly, but those are the kind of things we wake up to everyday. That experience made me think about one silly thing pharmacists do in my country. Most of them are not even real pharmacists. They are just uneducated people who apprentice at a pharmacist's shop to learn how to sell and administer medications. After they must have learnt this, they open a shop and start prescribing medicines to suck people who sponsor them. It had become an undying trade as they keep getting customers who would prefer their cheap services than go to a certified doctor.
Another silly thing both professional and apprenticed pharmacists do is that they turn their stores into provision shops. When you look into their stores, the first things you see are breads, noodles and snacks.
I wouldn't really blame the people that sponsor these stores. Country is hard and people can hardly get by. It is too expensive to go to the hospital for treatments so the people have to make do with what they have even though it is below standard.
`Thanks for coming by`
`All images from Google`
Mr. Pickles wants to take over the world
I woke up again to the absence of Mr. Pickles from the bed. I had to turn on the bedside lamp just to be sure he wasn't hurdled in any corner of the room. I never liked it if he didn't sleep on my bed. Rubbing his soft furs and holding him tightly in my arms was what I liked doing the most at bed time. But once it was midnight, I would wake up to his absence from the room. Just like now, I wondered where he had gone.
Mr. Pickles was a gift from my grandma for my seventh birthday. He was an old cat that had seen his fair share of life but I still loved him nonetheless. Mr. Pickles had his own bed but I never let him sleep there. I had to keep him by my side at all times, even at night.
I stepped out of my room to search for Mr. Pickles and bring him back to our room, but I couldn't find him anywhere in the house. I went back to my room, but that was after mum had come downstairs to coax me back to bed.
The following day, I decided to make sure Mr. Pickles never leaves the room at night without me trailing him. So I played less during the day. Well I asked mum what makes people sleep too much at night and she told me that when I play too much, I will be too tired at night and that will make me sleep too much. She also said that sleeping too much during the day will make me unable to sleep at night. I made sure to sleep more and also play less during the day.
That night, I made sure to hold Mr. Pickles tightly in my arms. It worked because I was able to feel it when he slipped away from my grasp. I waited for him to leave the room before following him. I wanted to know where he goes to every night. If he had made other cat friends that play with him at night. I wanted to know.
I followed him outside the house but soon lost track of him after he had made his way to the woods. I began to wander about in search of him. I soon came to a clearing. It was then that I began to hear voices
"*You are wasting our time Mr. Pickles. How can our plans to take over the world work if you keep living in that house"*
*"Well, that little girl keeps holding me hostage. She doesn't give me breathing space. She followed me here but I had to confuse her*"
I wasn't sure what I was hearing. Someone wants to take over the world! I had to take a peek to see who they were. So hiding behind a tree, I looked to see my Mr. Pickles and other cats I counted to be twelve. There were no humans among them, so who spoke? I couldn't believe my ears when one of the cats looked at me and shouted in a voice I could understand
*"Human! A human is here*"
All the cats looked at me and I ran away in fear. It was frightening to see a cat speak especially at night.
I ran into the house and made my way upstairs and into my parents room.
Mum and dad were shocked to see me panting. Before they could say a thing, I shouted.
"*Mum, dad, Mr. Pickles can speak and wants to take over the world!*"
They must have thought I was joking because mum just held me in her arms and tried to convince me it was a dream. They wouldn't believed that Mr. Pickles can speak nor that he plans to take over the world with other cats.
I decided to stop Mr. Pickles in my own little way by making sure I locked the door every night so that Mr. Pickles cannot leave at midnight to plan on taking over the world.
This is a prompt gotten from servicescape.com https://www.servicescape.com
Thanks for reading
@Sylv_Sylv
