Guilty conscience?
Jacinta Recha
Rob Owen
Once upon a time, there was an old woman who lived with her three grandchildren.
Every morning they all went to work in the field.
One day, one of the girls said, "Grandmother, I don't feel well today."
So, the old woman sent the child home.
When the girl got home, she saw that there was meat in the pot.
She ate all the meat and then went to sleep.
The old woman and two children were tired and hungry when they returned from the field.
Grandmother prepared ugali for supper, to eat with the meat she had cooked that morning.
She opened the pots to serve her grandchildren.
When she opened the pot with the meat, it was empty!
"Who ate the meat?" asked Grandmother, frowning.
But all three grandchildren shook their heads. "Not me," each one said.
Their grandmother tied a rope across the river.
She told each of them to walk on the rope as they sang a song.
"The one that ate the meat will fall into the river, and learn to tell the truth," warned Grandmother.
The first granddaughter walked quickly across the river, singing the song.
The song went like this:
Nimbe esia ulire inyama.
Mukoye khalira engwe mu nyanza.
Engwe mu ndaliro engwe munyanza.
Mukoye khalira engwe mu nyanza.
The other two grandchildren began to argue with each other.
The girl said to the boy, "You go next." The boy replied, "No, you go next!"
The granddaughter who ate the meat was scared and shivering.
As she stepped forward to walk on the rope, she slipped and fell into the river.
"Help! Help!" shouted the girl.
Grandmother said to the other two, "She is guilty, but we must help her."
Together they pulled the frightened girl out of the river.
Since that day, the old woman's grandchildren have always told the truth.
You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Guilty conscience?
Author - Jacinta Recha
Illustration - Rob Owen
Language - English
Level - First paragraphs
© African Storybook Initiative 2015
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Source www.africanstorybook.org
