EKI AND THE BEAUTIFUL BIRD.

INTRO

Story story story

Once upon a time

Time ,time

There lived a man called Mango

Sitting on a chair called cherry

Do you have a comb called  kola

Say it again fanta.

The title of my story is Eki and the beautiful Bird.

In Edo State Nigeria, there lived a little girl named Eki.She lived in a little village with her parents and, she was the only child her parents had. Every day before her parents left for the farm ,they would instruct her saying-

                 Eki my child ,Eki my child

                 Eki my very pretty child

                 Listen to this advice

                 Going outside the house is risky,

                 Very, very risky

                 Stay inside till we return

                 and you will be save.

So, Eki always stayed inside the house in obedience to her parents, until one day. Eki got bored of staying inside  the house so, she decided to stroll around the compound ‘after all I wouldn’t go too far’ she said to herself. As she strolled around the house compound, she heard a bird singing sweetly,when she looked up she saw a beautiful bird and feel in love with it at sight and Eki and the bird became friends. Every day, Eki came out of the house to hear the bird sing ,after singing they would play and laugh together,until one day.

 The bird had finished singing and Eki wanted to go back home in time before the  return of her parents.The bird said -                      

                 Eki my friend , Eki my friend

                 Eki my only true friend

                 A  friend knows a friend’s house 

                 Since I know your's why don’t you                                     

                 Come with me to know mine.

Eki decided to go with the bird on one condition that, they will come back before her parents returned from the farm and the bird agreed. They walked into the bush and kept walking awhile until they got to the bird’s house. After meeting the bird`s family, she told the bird that she must return immediately ,before her parents return home.                                             

 The beautiful bird escorted her to a point , then said ``Its about to rain and I must return to the nest for my parents have warned me never to stay out in the rain``.Eki tried to find her way back home but couldn’t.Then she tried to retrace her steps back to the bird’s house only to get lost.She walked for days in the bush , crying out for help but none came. She wished she had never disobeyed her parents.Sadly,she never found her way back home. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                     THE END                                                                     

A BIRD STEALS IYAWO’S WIFE

A BIRD STEALS IYAWO’S WIFE

By Sade Ade-Johnson

  There was a man who had two wives. The senior wife was called the iyale while the junior wife was called the Iyawo. The senior wife, the Iyale was very mean to the Iyawo. She made life very hard for the Iyawo such that the Iyawo never had enough food to feed her children or nice clothes to wear. The nicer the Iyawo was, the meaner the Iyale became.

  One day, the junior wife, the Iyawo needed to get some firewood. Since the Iyale would not her watch her baby she had to take her baby into the forest with her. She placed her baby under a tall tree while she went to gather some wood.

She finished gathering her firewood and returned to get her baby but the baby was gone. “Yey” she cried. “Ta lo gbo mo mi o” who took my baby?” she screamed. She ran back and forth looking for her baby, crying and yelling but couldn’t find her baby anywhere.

Then she looked up, and she saw a bird perched high up in the tree, holding her baby in its clutches. “You bird up there, give me my baby” she called to the bird. The bird threw down a bundle and the Iyawo quickly ran to get it. But it was not her baby. It was her baby. It was a bag of coral beads.

She once again appealed to the bird “i want my baby. What will i do with coral beads? Please give me back my baby”. The bird sang to her saying that corals are worth more than her baby but the iyawo would not hear of this. She insisted on her baby.

The bird threw down another bundle and the iyawo ran to get it. But again, it was not her baby; it was a bag of gold. She cried to the bird “I want my baby, what would I do with gold? Please give me back my baby!

This scene was repeared again with the bird throwing down precious stones, but the iyawo refused to these in place of her baby.

Finally, the bird flew down and placed the baby on ground. “Here’s your baby. And as you have proven not to be a greedy person, you can have all that i have offered you.” Now the Iyawo had not only her baby, but also the bag of corals, the bag of gold and the precious stones.

When the Iyale saw her come home with all these items, she demanded to know how the iyawo had come into possession of such expensive goods. The iyawo told her story and the iyale decided to get her own goods too since she could not be satisfied with sharing these with iyawo. She needed to have more than the iyawo did.

The following morning, the mean senior wife, the iyale, took her baby into the forest and laid the baby under the same tall tree from which the iyawo’s baby had been taken. Then she went away to make as if she was gathering firewood. When she got back, her baby was gone.

She looked up and saw in the clutches of the bird perched high up on the tree. “Give me back my baby” she called to the bird. The bird threw down a bundle. The iyale eagerly ran towards this bundle, but instead of coral beads or gold or precious stones, she found stones.

“You stupid bird, give corals, gold and precious stones. And give me back my baby” she called to the bird again. This time the bird threw down a bag of rubbish. The iyale screamed at the bird, demanding corals, gold and precious stones. But this time, the bird threw down a bag containing the bones of the iyale’s baby.

The story teaches us not to be greedy and materialistic.

THE RACE BETWEEN MR. TORTOISE AND MR. HARE----ADEDAYO ADEOSUN

Very long time ago, in the animals and birds’ kingdom, life was peaceful and full of fun. There were more than enough to eat and drink. The weather was very good, as there was nothing like earthquake, tsunami, drought or any other natural disaster, as we hear or experience nowadays. There were no civil strives, wars, religious conflict, ritual killings and so forth.

The animals and birds were usually very happy to do their work and they had plenty of time to relax. They were able to organise different forms of competitions like jumping among the monkeys and kangaroos, singing among the various types of birds.

After one of such competitions, other animals were praising Mr. Hare for being a fast-running animal; commending him for his past achievements. Mr. Tortoise was listening as accolades were being poured on Mr. Hare. He therefore challenged Mr. Hare for a marathon race.

“Are you out of your mind, Tortoise?” asked Mr. Hare.

“I’m not out of my mind. I’ll win, if you and I compete in a marathon race.” replied Mr. Tortoise.

The other animals and birds that were listening therefore planned to organise a marathon between the two them. Such a competition can be described as a mismatch, when comparing the two competitors.

Whatever the case might be, there would always be supporters, no matter how small the number might be, especially when judging the calibres and pedigree of the two runners.

A date, time and venue were fixed for the great race between the two animals. Wide publicity was given to it. If it were nowadays, adverts would have been placed in all the media – print and electronic. Media houses such as the CNN, AL-JAZEERA, BBC, VOA, NTA, FRCN, Radio O.Y.O and so forth would have covered the event live. Such an epic event would have been sponsored by corporate organisations such as MTN, glo, MALTINA, MILO and others.

Anyway, on the appointed date, match officials were on hand to see to a hitch-free race, after the routes had been well mapped out. The two competitors were called out and were hailed by their respective supporters.

“On your mark, Set, Go” the umpire got the race underway. Within a tinkle of an eye, expectedly, Mr. Hare had sped off; leaving behind Mr. Tortoise, crawling.  After a while, Mr. Hare suddenly realised that he did not need to dissipate so much energy, after all, he was competing with a slow-moving animal – Mr Tortoise.

“For wasting so much energy for nothing, I’ll stop and rest and then continue the race” Mr. Hare said to himself, reassuringly. He found a very nice shade and decided to rest. Before he knew it, he fell asleep. The cool breeze under the tree aided his sleep.

In the meantime, Mr. Tortoise continued the race. He later met Mr. Hare under the tree where he was sleeping. By the time he got there, Mr. Hare was already snoring. Mr. Tortoise quietly crawled pass.

After a long while, Mr. Tortoise showed up from a distance sweating profusely. His supporters, few as they were, started hailing him. “Finish up, Finish up….” they were shouting.

At long last, Mr. Tortoise crossed the finishing line and therefore won the race. All the prizes at stake for the competition were given to him. Almost all the animals that were previously supporting Mr. Hare decamped and were singing praises of Mr. Tortoise. Trumpets, drums and other musical instruments accompanied the victory songs in praise and honour of Mr. Tortoise.

It was the noise of Mr. Tortoise’s victory that woke up Mr. Hare where he was sleeping. By the time got to the finishing line, he met his supporters carrying shoulder high, Mr. Tortoise.

He left the venue in shame, dejected because he had disappointed himself and his numerous fans.

MORAL LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNT FROM THE FOLKTALE   

1.      One should never underrate the power of one’s opponent, no matter how powerful one may feel one is.

2.      Rest is very sweet only after work.

3.      One should learn how to persevere, no matter the degree of challenge one may be facing.

4.      Failure is an orphan, and success is a child of all.

5.      If one is doing something well, one should try to keep it up, realizing the fact that the very moment one relaxes, another person(s) will take one’s position.

THE DIALOGUE OF THE FINGERS BY BONIFACE OLADIMEJI

Once upon ten fingers

Like two small columns of soldiers

They filed out in identical group of five dactyls

Each side talking alike

One agile, but the other clumsy,

Like a wrongly chosen couple, they talk

“Let’s go to the world,” the little finger offered.

“To do what?” inquired the ring finger.

The middle finger snapped in:

“Nothing, but to steal”

Then came the muzzy probing from the index finger:

“What if we’re caught?”

The thumb then said,

I’d stand aloof and watch”

MORAL LESSONS

1. A serious meditation on the unpredictable nature of man took me to my childhood days when it was a usual practice to “make the fingers sing”. The thumb here dissociates itself from the proposed expedition, when others should have relied on it. This way, many in the position of leadership have betrayed the trust and confidence the people repose in them. The Nigerian situation is a case study.

2. Conversely, the thumb could be seen as an elderly person who knows better that one should not join the multitude to do evil.

THE PROUD AMAKA AND THE JESTER BY HENRY OLAGUNDOYE

          Once upon a time in the village of Umunede, there lived a very beautiful girl called Amaka. She was so beautiful that anybody who came across her called her beauty. She also knew that she was so beautiful and therefore became proud. Not too long after, people started coming to ask her hand in marriage. All categories of men, rich, average and  poor were all coming because of her beauty, but she  refused all of them, because she thought she was too beautiful for any of them to marry.  Even because of her,  the king  had to put up a big party in order to  ask her hand in marriage,  but she openly rejected the  king,  which made everybody in the  village to hate her.  But  unknowingly  to everybody, the jester; Obodo, had a  plan.  One day,  Obodo went to the path that led to the farm, dug a pit and hid  a calabash of honey  there  and covered it with  palm fronds. Some  distance to the pit,  Obodo dropped some honey leading to the pit, and hid himself in a nearby  bush. Just as he  thought,  Amaka came along that path and  when she  saw the drops of honey, she  looked closely  at it and tasted it. When she realized that it was honey,  she traced the drops of honey  to the pit, opened the  pit and  discovered  a pot of  honey there. She looked around to see  whether anybody  was watching, and when she realized that nobody was watching she  bent  down and carried it. Immediately, Obodo  ran  out from the bush where he was hiding shouting thief! thief!! thief!!! 

Amaka started  pleading. Obodo refused at first,  but after much pleading,  he then gave her options; either to marry him, or he would report her to the king.  She thought over it for a while, because she knew that thieves are  stoned to death in their community,  and she did not want to die a shameful death. She agreed to marry Obodo and spent  the rest of her life with him.       

How an intelligent wife saved her boastful husband- Akinola Olawale S

Once upon a time, there was a poor man whose name was Alade. He lived in a village called ‘Akinweyin’ and he used to boast to his wife of his invincible power that has distinguished him as a powerful man among his peers. No day would ever pass that this poor man would not tell his wife about the war he has fought and all the brave men he has killed and how he had changed to different animals to overcome insurmountable opponents.

During that time, inter-village trade was one of the means of amassing wealth as people used to buy goods and go to the neighbouring villages to sell. It was indeed profitable that if anyone could make a trip, he/she would ultimately become one of the richest in the community but it was a hazardous trip. Whoever ventures into this journey would encounter scores of armed robbers who are ready to snatch his wares and if he did not cooperate with them, he might lose his life during the process. The fear of being killed by armed robbers scared the villagers because only brave men could think of embarking on the journey.

One day, Alade’s wife, Ajoke called her husband and told him, “My husband, since bravery and magical power are needed to embark on the journey and come back safely and with your magical command, why don’t you embark on this trip so that we can become wealthy”. The man, after listening to his wife rejected the offer but his wife kept on begging him which later yielded good result.

The following day, he informed his wife that he was ready to embark on the journey to prove his magical powers and he told his wife to accompany him so that she would witness how he would kill any armed robber who crosses his path. The wife consented and they left after Alade had made preparations for the trip.

When they approached a tick and dark forest, they heard some noises and five heavy armed robbers suddenly appeared before them and they were shivering. The wife who had expected her husband to use his power to conquer their assailants saw her husband trembling with anxiety. The wife smartly said, “Today will mark the end of these robbers because I can see my husband has begun to shake which signals first phase of our victory. Shake, my husband shake, continue to shake because that was how you shivered last month and killed twenty men. My husband, don’t hesitate to shake, you shook four days ago and you murdered thirty”. Fear gripped the armed robbers when they heard what the woman said because they thought that she was saying the truth and they robbers ran away. That was how a brilliant saved her proud husband from untimely death.

THE POOR MAN AND THE BIG FISH

Once upon a time, there lived a man and his wife, they were so poor that they don’t have enough to eat, let alone to buy a house or rent one, because they had no money, so they managed what they have.

They however ended up building a little hut by the side of a narrow channel meant for drainage by picking up pieces of wood here and there.

One fateful day, the man went fishing as he used to do everyday, but he was not allowed to set his nets more than once a day according to government’s regulations.

It had been three days that he had gone fishing without catching a single fish.

On the fourth day, he caught a golden fish, a very big one, he grabbed the fish and was about to throw it over his back to carry it home, the fish said, “ don’t take me home,” throw me back into the sea, it will be luckier for you.

If you take me home, you and your wife will only have enough for two or three meals, if you throw me back into the sea, it will be much luckier.

So the man threw the golden fish back in the ocean and said.

“I will rather miss two or three meals than have even more bad luck than I have got now.