Afrotales

11/02/2012

Once there was a couple that lived in an African village. They had barely being married for two years when trouble set into their marriage. The woman, who had considered her husband the most amazing person she had ever met, started noticing changes in his behavior. He will return home late from his hunting, have little conversation with her and eat less of her food. Both became very sad.
Finally the woman decided to approach the village elder for help. After narrating her whole story, the old man was very disappointed, for he was the one that wedded them. He had considered their marriage will be full of bliss, but now it does not seem so.
“Alright, I will help you dissolve the marriage” said the old man. “You will be free to remarry; but is that what you really want”? “I want my husband to love me”, said the woman. “I also long to be a loving wife. We are both miserable”.
“I have a formula for you”, the old man said thoughtfully. At this response, the woman became excited. “I want it immediately sir”, cried the woman. “I will, but there is one important ingredient that I don’t have, and I am too old to go and get it. Will you get it for me?” requested the old man. The woman was more than eager to assist. So the old man said to her, “I need a whisker from a Live Lion. Go get it for me and I will mix the formula for you”. This sounded very scary and depressing to the lady, but she was too desperate not to make an attempt.
The next day, the woman took some huge chunk of fresh meat to the riverside where lions come to drink. Hiding far behind a tree, she watched a lion come by and consumed the meat in just three bites. The animal raised its big head afterwards and it knew the woman was hiding there. But it left quietly while the young wife waited petrified.
She repeated this the next day, the days after and for weeks. Each time she crept closer to the lion, while the lion got used to eating her meal. By the fourth week she could sit very close to the lion. Then summoning courage, she stretched her trembling hands and pulled off a whisker from the lion’s chin while it was still engrossed in the meal. She sat back quietly while the animal walked away as usual.
The young wife ran to the old man with her whisker. “I have it! I have it!!” she shouted, waving it. The stunned man stood there in wonder. “If you have done this—pulling a whisker from a living lion—then you do not need a magical portion to win your husband’s love”, the old man said gently. “Go and use the same tenacity in winning your husband’s love”.
So she left, taking the advice of the elder. Every day that passed by, she showed her husband that she loved him. Applying the same patience, self control and wit she used in obtaining the whisker from the living lion, she won her husband back. He began to come home early with other hunters, spent more time with her and enjoyed more of her meals. They lived happily ever after.
Adopted from http://africa.mrdonn.org/lion.html

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