Banana Town - A Story from Africa
One day Spider decided that the food in his town wasn’t good enough. “I’m going to look for better food,” he said greedily and started on his journey.
After walking for many hours he came to a village. “What place is this?” he asked some grasshoppers who hoped by. “Cassava Town,” they replied proudly. “It is where we live. Come and eat with us. Cassava is the best food to be found anywhere.”
Spider was hungry and said he would be happy to eat with them. Soon a bowl of steaming cassava was placed before him. But as he was about to take a mouthful, he noticed some smoke rising from the distance. “Is that another town?” he asked. “Yes. That is where the mice live,” the grasshopper replied. “They call it Bean Town.”
Now Spider liked beans better than cassava, so he rudely jumped up and hurried toward the smoke, his mouth watering all the way.
“Is this the way to Bean Town?” he asked some mice who were returning from market.
“Yes,” they answered. “And you will not find fatter beans no matter how far you travel. Come and share our dinner with us.” “Oh, thank you!” said Spider. “I’m terribly tired and hungry.” He followed them to their town, where the mice happily cooked beans for him. But again, just as he was about to eat, Spider saw smoke rising from another village.
“What place is that?” he asked.
“That is where the monkeys live,” answered the mice. “They call it Rice City. It is such a long way away you would have to eat a lot of beans to give you strength to get there.”
But greedily Spider liked rice even better than he liked beans. He wanted to save all the room in his stomach for rice. So without even saying thank you, he left his meal and before Spider got there he was so weak from hunger he could hardly walk straight. Only the thought of steaming bowls of rice kept him going.
At last he got there and was welcomed by the monkeys, who began cooking him a feast of rice. Oh it smelled good! At last Spider lifted the first spoonful to his mouth, but as he did he saw smoke rising from yet another village. He couldn’t resist asking, “What is that place?” “We don’t know,” answered the monkeys. It is so far away we have never been there. Some people say it is Banana Town, but nobody knows for sure. “Banana Town?” thought Spider. Could it be true? Of all the food in the world, Spider liked bananas best. Could there actually be such a place as Banana Town? Ungrateful Spider, even though he was weak from hunger, staggered to his feet and stumbled on his way.
At long last, too exhausted to walk, Spider dragged himself into the unknown village, and fainted. When he woke up, he looked and rubbed his eyes in disbelief! Poor greedy, hungry Spider was back in his hometown.
Some people, like Spider, don’t appreciate the good things they have or the kind of things that other people do for them, are you like that?
Source: SIM NOW magazine, 1993
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