Introduction
The following story is about a group of differently gifted young men who use their abilities or strengths to save their father from drowning and from the claws of a hawk.
Aimed at demonstrating that everyone has something valuable to contribute to society, the story relates a farming competition between a farmer’s sons,
which eventually results in the old farmer falling into a well and his subsequent rescue through the collaborative efforts of his sons.
If you want to listen to the Likpakpaln narration,
click here.
Story
Once upon a time, there was a man who had several sons who were farmers. They were very hardworking, especially the eldest son.
As a result, whenever they went to farm, his father and his brothers could not keep up with him. This made him very overbearing.
One day he suggested that they have a farming contest to see who the best farmer was.
The rules of the contest were that they had to farm all day, on empty stomachs, and without pauses to rest.
The other brothers agreed reluctantly. So the following day they all went to farm as usual and started the competition.
At midday their father decided to pay them a visit to see how the contest was progressing.
On arrival, he realised that his younger sons were far behind their elder brothers so out of pity he decided to roast yam for them.
After making the fire and roasting the yam, he decided to go and fetch water from some wells nearby for them to drink after eating.
Unfortunately, while attempting to draw water from one of the wells, the old man fell into it.
After a while, one of the old man’s sons, whose name was
Liteelr,
reminded his brothers that their father had taken rather long in returning so they should check on him to find out what the problem was.
Unfortunately, there were several paths leading to the wells so their father could
have taken any of them. The sons were therefore at a loss as to which path to take.
One of the man’s sons, whose name was
Usanban, told his brothers which path their father took.
The boys took the path and searched for their father all the way to the place the wells were located.
One of them suggested that they check in the wells to see if their father had fallen into one of them.
But because there were many wells and dugouts, they needed the help of the hole-finder to pinpoint the specific well their father might have fallen into.
Another of the man’s sons, whose name was
Unyuunbunban, stepped up and told his brothers which well their father had fallen into.
Unyuunwul, who was skilled in swimming, then descended into the well to rescue their father.
After diving in and searching for a while, he emerged from under the water and told his brothers that he couldn’t find their father.
He told them that the well contained a lot of fish so perhaps one of them had swallowed their father.
The fisherman,
Ujanban, was summoned by the eldest son to fish so that they could cut open the fish that had swallowed their father and save him.
Ujanban subsequently stepped up and after a good catch, they finally found the fish. They cut open the fish and found their father inside it.
Just when they were about to jubilate, a big hawk swooped in, snatched their father, and flew to the top of a tall tree.
Utayator was quick to pull out his slingshot and slung a stone at the hawk who dropped their father.
As their father was falling from the tall tree,
Uwanchur ran forward and caught him before he hit the ground.
They took their father home and celebrated.
From that day on, the eldest son learnt to respect and cherish his younger brothers.
So you see, everyone has his or her unique strength. God never created anyone without a gift or talent. This is the end of my story.