My Favourite Childhood Story

My favourite childhood/children story was told to me by my elder brother. I cannot remember exactly how old I was at the time, but I am sure I was I would have been old enough to be intrigued, because I remember that story till this very day.

Now before I begin, I must point out that my elder brother, as most elder siblings usually are, was quite mischievous growing up. He told me tall tales that to this day, I wondered why I ever believed them. Nonetheless, he was one of the reasons that my childhood was amazing, and I will be doing him a disservice if I said I did not enjoy his stories.

This one I am about to tell, which actually is my favourite, was about an old lady who (according to my brother) offered two tired travellers a pot of food.

I will tell the story how best I can, and I hope you all enjoy reading...

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

So, it began this way...
Two travellers, on their way to a distant land, encountered an old woman who was returning from her farm. This old lady carried on her head a bunch of wood, which she intended to use in making a fire later that night to prepare some food.

Upon sighting this old lady, the travellers offered to relieve her of her bundle, helping her carry the wood all the way to her cottage. Now, her cottage was out of the way of their journey, but they didn't bother. They helped her, and took it all the way. When they got to her place, the old lady thanked them and offered to prepare a meal for them before they took their leave. The travellers however, politely refused, and instead thanked the old lady for her benevolence, and insisted that they be on their way. The old lady then offered them two pebbles, which they took, and went off on their way.

However, as it would happen, one of the two travellers, was unhappy with the fact that they had refused the old lady's meal. He had tried to convince his partner earlier to accept the food, as according to him, they were going to need all the energy they can get for their journey, especially after helping the old lady to carry her bundle. His partner had however, insisted that they had done it out of benevolence, and as such should not expect a reward from the old lady.

So, as they slowly left the path to the old lady's cottage, the unhappy one paused and told his partner; "I am sorry, but I have to go back. I have forgotten something of mine at that old lady's place." And when his partner offered to follow him back, he insisted that he go alone, as that way he could be faster.

And back he went, all the way to the old lady's cottage. When he stepped in, he realized that the old lady was nowhere to be seen. However, a freshly cooked pot of rice sizzled at one corner of the hut. His greed extremely high, our unhappy partner then proceeded to quickly help himself to a fair amount of the rice, without seeking or waiting for the arrival of the old lady. When he was done, he then turned to leave, and unfortunately, he realized that there was no more door from whence he had came. He looked around, but saw the same wall, circling around the hut. Too late, he realized that his greed had brought him into a trap.

At the end of the day, the traveller spent the rest of his days stuck in the old lady's cottage, with no hope of ever getting out, while his partner, when he could not locate him, proceeded on the journey alone. The pebbles that he received, proved to be two rare stones of great worth, and he lived the rest of his life a fulfilled man.

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Now the key tenet I believe this story teaches, is the need for one to avoid being greedy. However, mischievous as my brother was, he had told me this story for a very different reason at the time. For back then, we had been offered two options of a certain gift, and he had chosen the one which to him was favourable. Thus, in order to dissuade me from insisting on the other, he had elected that the timing was perfect for the old lady and the traveller to teach me a life lesson.

Long story short, I learned the lesson needed. It did take me some time to uncover his motive anyway.

THE END

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Cheers to @belenguerra, @writingnreviews & @fendit for this contest.
And thanks to @steemcurator01 and @steemcurator02 for the awesome support.

I hope you all enjoyed my story. I just discovered this community, and hopefully, I will be writing more here..

#SladenSpeaks
#IfWordsWereNudes

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