Story corner: Akwa and his miracle stone

Once upon a time on the islands of Zizi, there lived very many people both poor and rich. Akwa’s family was among the residents of the islands and they were very poor; in fact, they were the poorest. His parents worked on the neighbour’s farms in order to have that day’s meal. Sometimes they went to bed with empty stomachs since they could not afford all the meals. This hurt Akwa so much since he would go to school hungry. He was among the few who were always sent back home for school fees and he was the only student who went to school without shoes. As young as twelve years, he had vowed to change the situation at home but all had been in vain. He had all sorts of jobs to supplement his parent’s small income. One day, on his way home from school, Akwa felt tired and hungry, so he decided to rest in the shade of a nearby tree. He suddenly fell asleep and while sleeping, dreamt that he had become very rich. He awoke in a state of fear and excitement. His first sight was a singing raven bird which jumped from tree to tree. His inner being persuaded him to follow the bird. The raven led him to a very big rock with one beautiful shining stone in the middle of it which he admired. He picked it with great wonder. “I wish I had a good house where I could keep this stone,” he sighed, when he remembered that they were poor at home. When he got home he found that they had a good house and he was puzzled. It was lunch time and they had prepared yams, which he did not like and wished they would have rice for lunch instead. All of a sudden, there was rice! That is when Akwa realised that he had picked was a miracle stone. He wished for his parents to have money and they instantly became rich and now he was sure of the treasure in the stone. He also wished good for his friends and everything became good for them. They became the envy of the entire island and they lived happily ever after and Akwa kept his stone a secret from everyone. Ends