Using story telling to teach listening skills

2.  This is an interesting stor y that I was
told by my grandmother when I was only
13 years. We loved sitting by the fire
side eating groundnuts and listening to
her favorite stories.

3.  This night she was tr ying to tell us how
impor tant Old men in the village .In
other words she wanted us to
appreciate and respect them.

4. There lived a ver y wicked chief. Nobody liked
him, because of his wickedness. He was wicked
to ever y one. The men and women. He decided
to pretend to be popular with all the young men
who lived in his countr y. When he won their
trust they all liked him.
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5.  One day he called these young men
whom he had gained trust in them and
told them this. “My dear friends, can’t
you see? 'they all were ver y eager to
hear what their chief was thinking
about.” Kill all the all of them.
Ever ybody should kill his father.”

6.  “ Therefore all those who had old
fathers alive, brought them to be killed.
Each one of them went and brought his
father to be killed. They killed all of the
old men except one.

7. He was the father of a man who refused
and said no.” why should the chief kill
the old men and why should I send my
father to be killed?”
He decided to dig a big hole and hide his
father there. He covered the place with
wood and soil leaving just a small
opening for him to breath and enough
space to let in food. By this time all the
other men had killed all their fathers.

8.  When the chief had made sure that all
the old men were killed he was still not
satisfied with the young men. He gave
them a cow to slaughter and bring him
the best par t of it .If they don’t then
they had to be punished.

9.  They all thought that this was an each
task. The young men went and
slaughtered the cows but wondered
which par t of the meat of the cow was
the best. They were all worried.

10.  They cut the liver and sent to the chief.
He asked whether it was the best par t
of the meat. They all said yes. They
added par t of the bile. He said that it
was not the best par t of the meat. He
asked them to go and find out quickly.
The people were more than worried.

11. Mean while the man who never killed his
father visited him regularly taking him
food to eat secretly. One day he asked
his son what was happening in the
village. He told him how they were all
suf fering. He explained that af ter killing
the old wise men , the chief gave them
a cow to slaughter and take to him the
best par t of the meat. He wanted the
sweetest and the bitterest par t of the
meat. If they failed to bring that they
would all be killed.

12.  The old man laughed and wondered why
that was what was making him worried.
He asked his son if he knew that
bitterest and the sweetest par t of the
meat which he knew nothing about.’”
the sweetest and the bitterest par t is
the tongue. He told his son to cut the
tongue and send it to the chief and say
that it is the sweetest and bitterest
par t of the meat.

13.  The man hurried home finding people
worried and undecided about what to
do .if nothing had happened they were
thinking of throwing the meat away and
run away from home. When he arrived
he asked them to cut the tongue of the
cow and sent it to the chief.

14.  They cut the tongue for him and took it
to the wicked chief’s palace. He went
threw it down and said,” Chief see the
sweetest and the bitterest par t of the
meat is the tongue.”

15.  The chief sat down quietly and finally
said.” you did not kill your father.
Speak the truth. You have not killed
your father.”
 He said that it was the truth. He did not
kill his father. When all the other young
men were killing their fathers; I went
and hid mine.”

16.  He congratulated him for being a son of
a wise man . The sweetest and the
bitterest par t of the meat is the tongue.

17.  As for all these young men you are all
fools. Why would someone send his
father to be killed? But if you are
interested in finding the sweetest and
the bitterest par t of the meat, find the
tongue.

18.  It was because of your tongue that you
will have an enemy and it is also
because of your tongue that you will not
have a friend.

19.  This stor y teaches us a big lesson. We
meet this wicked chief who pretends to
be friendly to win the confidence of the
young men in the community.

20.  All the men except one do as they were
instructed. At the end we find that the
man who was craf ty saves the rest of
the men.