A long time ago in a very poor village was an old woman by the market. She was always there begging for alms but nobody cared. She had torn clothes on and smelled like rotten eggs, people would pass and spit on her. Some people would even pass and rain curses on her. She smiled through it all and continued to beg for alms.
One evening, she stood up to bath at the nearby river. She was tired of being called several hurtful names. It was very difficult for her to walk, her legs were sore from sitting for long but she pushed on till she got to the river. You could see the excitement on her face as the water touched her skin, she swam till she felt clean. It was when she was through, she remembered her clothes were gone. “How will she enter the village naked?” She thought.
Just like an answered prayers, she saw a beautiful cloth by the rock sitting on the river. She hurried as her legs could carry her to put on the beautiful garment. She worn it and left the river for the market square to sleep as she used to. She was happy the villagers would look at her differently the next morning.
She was wrong, they didn’t care she was now neat and with a new cloth. They continued to look her like a piece of shit and spat at her sight. “What could she have done wrong to this people, what is her offence?” She kept on asking herself as tears came down her eyes. At that spot, she decided to leave the village and never come back. While she was on that thought, she slept off.
A mermaid appeared in her dreams. “You have my cloth old woman but I won’t be angry because I have seen your troubles. You need to change your location before people notice you. Go to the North part of the market and see what will happen to you. A word is enough for the wise.” The mermaid instructed her.
She woke up with sweat all over her face and as terrified as she was, she left for the direction as instructed. She sat and dropped her alms bowl in her front. The first villagers passed her without making a comment then the next people that passed dropped money in her bowl and complimented her dress. She made a lot of money that day. From that day, her story changed.
MORALS OF THE STORY
1.) Obedience is better than sacrifices or complain. If she had not listen to the mermaid, she would have stayed in one place and rot or leave and never find what she wanted.
2.) Always take a bold step. She took one when she went to bath to reduce the abuses people threw at her. Never be scared to take a bold step in life.
3.) Change position when the present position is not working for you. Failure is not when you fall, it is when you accept that fall and dwell in it. The villagers have been used to seeing her dirty and unkempt that they didn’t notice she has changed.