Storytime: Once Upon A Time...

Monday, 18th October

Good day everyone, I hope you're having a good day. At the moment, I just had lunch which was very filling so I'm using this time to rest up and also write a riveting story for my readers.

So, when I was younger, my English teacher back in junior secondary school would make it a point to tell us, the students, stories; and not just any kind of stories, those kind that would have moral lessons and leave you thinking about your life as a child and the path you're headed at the time.

This reminds me of a story I was once told by my teacher, she called it "A Patient Dog Eats The Fattest Bone" and it goes like this...

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Once upon a time, there lived two sisters. They were living with their parents who didn't really have a lot to their name. Their parents struggled everyday to make ends meet. Their father, full of wisdom made a habit to counsel his daughters on the need to be patient in whatever they did. He talked to them about other virtues like tolerance, endurance, good behaviour and always ended his talks with a saying: "Whoever had patience had everything."

When these twins were 18, their father died. They felt greatly the impact of his demise. Soon after his death, their mother found things difficult. As a result of this, she took them to her distant relation who was living a few kilometers away.

Their mother's relation accepted them but he was a cruel man who maltreated the girls so much. They were subject to hard labour and service. While they worked so hard, the man's only daughter would sleep endlessly. She was lazy and spoilt to say the least.

One day, Sophia, the man's child went to her dad's room and stole some money. The man, when he found out was furious and assumed it was the twins who had done it. He chastised ams punished them severely for a crime they didn't commit.

The hard life and suffering continued for quite a long time. One day, Aurora called her twin sister, Audrey and told her she was running away back to their Mom's. Audrey reminded her to be patient as their late father would say. Aurora refused and soon after, fled back to her mother. When she got home, she couldn't continue her education because of no money. She got married when she was 21 to a rather frugal man who couldn't take good care of her. Soon after their wedding, their mother died.

Audrey felt the grief of their mother's death and she was more determined than ever to be patient to get what she wanted. She finished secondary school, got admission into a prestigious university on scholarship to study Accountancy. Sophia, had dropped out of secondary school and had become "wayward virtueless girl without a bright future."

Audrey finished her education and graduated as an Accountant. A few years later, she got married to a pilot and lived happily ever after. She got a job soon after her wedding with an international organisation which necessitated that she worked in their branch office overseas.

Before she left, a send-off party was organised for her. Sophia and Aurora was present at the party. When her husband rose to propose a toast, he praised her for her endurance and yeah, you guessed it... "patience". He ended his toast by saying " I really agree that a patient dog eats the fattest bone".

Se Fini!

A/N: To be honest, I've always disliked listening to stories like that not because of the lessons such stories impart but because of the implications by my teachers. They always had it in their heads to impose and force these stories down our throats as with their beliefs and principles through stories like that as though we didn't have a choice but to heed to their morals. It felt like anyone who had a different opinion was going down the wrong path in life and was considered troublesome or even worse, wayward. I'm not saying that these stories weren't helpful growing up, they were but it just was a lot to put on a child at the time and also that we weren't allowed nuanced, diverse opinions in class.