The Patient Dog Eats The Fattest Bone

Once upon a time, there lived two sisters who were twin. They were living with their parents who were poor. Their parents struggled everyday to meet their daily needs. Their father was full of wisdom and he always created time to counsel his daughters about the need to be patient in whatever they were doing. He talked to them about so many other ways of life, like tolerance, endurance, good behaviours. He always ended his talks with a saying that “whoever had patience has everything”.
When these twins were eighteen years old, their father died, they felt greatly the impact of their father's death, because they lost a good companion of their counselor and a breadwinner of the family. Soon after the death of their father, their mother found things difficult. As a result of this, she took the twins to her distant relation who was living in another town.
Their mother's relative accepted them but he was a cruel man who maltreated the girls so much that they were to do all the house chores at home and followed the man to the farm. While they worked so hard at home, the man's only daughter would sleep lazily in the bed. She was very lazy and pampered.
One day, Bolaji, the man's daughter went to her father room and stole four thousand naira belonging to the father. The man was so furious and called the twins to his parlour. He concluded that it was the twins who must have stolen the money. They were beaten and punished severally for the money they didn't steal.
The hard life and suffering continued for a long time. One day, Kehinde called her twin sister, Taiwo and told her “I will run away to our mother”. Taiwo reminded her that she should be patient as their late father used to tell them when he was alive. Kehinde refused to listen to her sister's advice, and soon after, she ran back to their mother.
When she got home she couldn't continue her education because there was no money. She got married when she was twenty-one to a poor man who couldn't take good care of her. Soon after their marriage their mother died.

By Godwin Victor
Lagooz College, Lagos.
To be continued next week