A man lives in the town but he built a house in the village. None of his relatives lives in the village. There was no interlocking stones or plastering in the compound so weeds grow there.
A poor widow normally weeds and sweeps the compound and makes sure that it was neat.
When the rich man came back, the woman went to meet him and greeted him. Afterwards, she informed him that she had been the one weeding and sweeping the compound. She was expecting that the man would appreciate her or even give her some gifts. But the man told her that she was weeding the compound so as to be able to go to the back to pluck mango and other fruits he planted in the compound.
The woman left because she felt that the man might be in a bad mood at that moment. But she continued weeding and sweeping the compound.
When the man came back the next December, she went back again to tell him that she was still taking care of the compound. The man warned her strictly to stop disturbing him. He boasted that if not for the trees he planted in his compound, hunger would have killed many of them in the village.
One of his neighbours heard what he said and it got him very angry. He invited the widow and told her neither to weed nor sweep the rich man’s house again. He promised to be assisting her with a stipend on monthly bases to take care of her children.
After a year, the man came back again but could not recognize his compound because it had turned to bush. He thought that the widow had died but when he made inquiry, he discovered that she was still alive.
She went to ask the woman why she stopped weeding the compound. The woman told him that she no longer eat fruits.
The man got the message. He told the woman to tell him the amount she would collect, to clean the compound. The woman told him that she longer do that kind of work.
Other villagers refused to help him clean the compound because they heard what he did to the widow. He had to go to the next village to get labourers and they charged him an exorbitant amount.
After the compound had be cleaned, he went inside the house only to discover that a giant snake was living there. On sighting the snake, his wife and children left the house and ran away.
Always sow the seed of kind words in the lives of people. Appreciate people’s sacrifices, don’t always take it for granted. If you carelessly throw away the broom for sweeping the compound, you will need it in the morning.
