Читать книгу Landscapes of short stories for Gr 10 Second Additional Language - Blanche Scheffler - Страница 6

a Kikuyu fable retold by Phyllis Savory

A note about the story

A fable is a short story that conveys a moral lesson, often using animal characters that represent human characteristics and behaviour that illustrate the moral point of the story. This story is about a useful life lesson that the main character, Kimwaki, learns from the noisy nest-building activities of weaver birds. When he inherits his father’s wealth, he ignores two things: his father’s positive example of hard work and the general rule of Ubuntu, of neighbours helping each other. He is lazy – an opposite trait to that of the birds – and takes it for granted that he will always have enough food – something the birds by their very nature do not even consider. The direct consequences of his attitude are that his fields deteriorate, his animals suffer and he becomes bored.

Then in the Spring he notices and begins to watch the noisy, chattering weaver birds building nests in the tree above him. This breaks his boredom and he soon sees the reward of their hard work: nests that will shelter them in the future. The rest of the simple plot emphasises the importance of Ubuntu and takes the story to its logical conclusion, with Kimwaki himself expressing the moral of the story.

Pre-reading

•What keeps you busy all day? What day is your busiest one? Why is this so?

During reading

•Look for clues that explain why Kimwaki becomes

–bored and

–interested in the weaver birds.

•What role does time play in the story?

Kimwaki and the weaver birds

As an old Kikuyu man lay dying, he sent for his only son Kimwaki. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘I have lived my life, and the time has come for me to join my ancestors. In all these years I have not been idle. My fields are the fairest in the land, my cows are fat and healthy, and my goats are many. All these now belong to you. Carry me out and let me lie under the stars, for it is time for me to die.’

So he died, and when the burial ceremonies had taken place, Kimwaki looked around him, and counted his wealth. He found that he was even richer than he had hoped, and he was young enough to enjoy it. No need for him to work any more – and no one to nag him either. Life was very good, and he settled down to enjoy it as lazily as he could.

Day after day he lay dreaming in the sunshine or, when the sun became too hot for comfort, in the shade of a big tree that grew beside his hut. His fine fields became overgrown with weeds and grass. His sleek and glossy cattle became hollow-eyed and thin for no one drove them to the pastures. The little goats bleated in distress, not knowing where to go.

But Kimwaki did not care, for, with the great stores of food that had been provided by his father’s work and wisdom, he felt he could well afford to sit back and rest. No fear of hunger could touch him.

In a land where it is the rule for each neighbour to help the other, this idle young man helped nobody, so nobody lifted one finger to help him. In this way, all that he had inherited went from bad to worse; no one cared, and he was avoided by all around him.

For many months Kimwaki led this useless life, until the loneliness bored him. Then, one day in the early spring, as he lay drowsing as usual under his tree, he heard excited twitterings from above. He opened his eyes in annoyance1, to see what had disturbed his pleasant sleep and there, up in the tree, was a flock of little weaver birds. They were darting hither and thither, as busy as could be, for it was nesting time.

Spring was in the air, and the males were building homes for their young families when they hatched. Their excited chattering caused him to open his eyes a little wider. He watched as they worked together, until he understood their joy.

Singing and laughing, each bird made his contribution to the weaver colony. One would bring a tiny piece of grass, another a little twig, while yet another a feather to his nest. They worked as though their very lives depended upon their haste and, when evening came, the frames of the little nests were finished.

On the following day the work continued: the birds’ clever, tiny beaks wove the grasses in and out, lining the nests with softest down. Kimwaki watched it all as he lay beneath the big tree. Thunder-clouds were gathering in the sky, and when the second evening came, Kimwaki thought how wise the little birds were to provide shelter for their babies from the coming rain.

Every day now, he watched the feathered workers, until in a short while a whole colony of finished nests hung from the branches of his tree. And, during all this time, the lesson of their co-operation and their hard work had been sinking deeper and deeper into his mind.

Finally Kimwaki said to himself as he listened to their cheerful chatter, ‘I am a strong young man, while they are only tiny birds. I have two big hands with which to work, while each of them has only a little beak. They are safe and sheltered, which I am not. They are the wise ones, and I am not!’

He thought the matter over during the night, and next morning he rose early, took his rusty hoe with him, and went to the field belonging to his nearest neighbour. There he began to dig and clear the weeds and grass away and, when this was done, he hoed the ground. All day long he worked beside the others who had joined him and, when evening came, he found himself singing as he retraced his steps to his broken-down hut. He felt as happy and light-hearted as the little weaver birds!

Day after day he went, first to the field of one neighbour, and then to another, helping where he could, and asking nothing in return. Then one morning, he awoke to hear cheerful chattering and laughter upon his own untidy, overgrown fields. He looked out and saw that his neighbours were as busy as could be, clearing and hoeing his weed-covered lands. He joined them at once, and soon the plot was ready for planting. And, later on, when the rains came, the same neighbours helped him to plant his crops and re-thatch his leaking hut.

The months went by, and as the crops grew – mealies, beans and potatoes – so grew also his own pride. He no longer lazed away the days under the big tree, but continued to help those around him, and looked after his neglected2 flocks. Joyfully he watched the glow of health creep back to the dull coats of his cows and goats.

Before long his crops were ready to be harvested, and willing hands helped him to reap them – returning the help that Kimwaki had so willingly given to them. And when all the grain had been stored away, and his potatoes and beans sold, he found, to his joy, that once more his father’s fields were the richest in the land.

Kimwaki looked up and gave thanks to the little weaver birds for showing him that only through unselfishness and hard work can peace and happiness be found.

Post-reading

1.Name the reasons why Kimwaki does not do any work after his father has died.(2)

2.Summarise the main points of the story, from the moment Kimwaki notices the weaver birds, to the end.(6)

3.Explain how this description links with the main message of the story:

‘Singing and laughing, each bird made his contribution to the weaver colony.’(5)

4.Comment on the value judgement implied in the statement that Kimwaki reached a stage where ‘he understood their joy’.(2)

5.Discuss your response to the story and its moral.(2)

Enrichment activity

How many idiomatic expressions and proverbs do you know that are about work? Work together as a group and make a list of them. Add the meanings as well.

Then, with one of you acting as ‘referee’, have a quiz with groups taking turns to read an item on their list, and another group having to say what it means. The referee allocates 1 mark per correct answer and adds up the totals.

You could also mark the idiomatic expressions that groups mention during the quiz, to see which group had the longest list.