Once upon a time, the Alaafin, King of the Oyo kingdom, was captured and put in prison by the King of Ilorin, a neighbouring kingdom. As part of his punishment, the king of Ilorin locked the Alaafin in a cold, damp room and left him to starve. The only light in the room came from a tiny window, high up on the wall, too small to let enough light in.
After many days of sitting in the dark on his own without any food, the Alaafin spotted a mouse running across the room. The hungry king’s tummy grumbled loudly as he lunged at the mouse and caught it with his bare hands. Getting ready to eat it, the Alaafin suddenly felt sorry for the little mouse. “I can’t eat you, little one”, he said. “If I do, I will still die of hunger, so why should I take your life too”? So, he let the mouse go.
The grateful mouse turned to the Alaafin “Thank you, noble king. I promise to repay you for this kindness”, he squeaked as he disappeared into a hole in the ground, leaving the Alaafin surprised and confused.
The next day, the little mouse returned with 20 of his mouse friends. Each mouse brought a little bit of food to the hungry king. They brought tiny bowls of rice, beans, corn, yams and plantains. They did this day after day, so that the Alaafin grew stronger and was no longer hungry.
Weeks later, the King of Ilorin finally sent guards to check on the Alaafin. “Do you think he’s still alive?” One guard asked. “No way!! We haven’t given him food in weeks. I’m sure he’s already dead,” the second guard responded. As they opened the prison door, the guards were surprised to see him alive and healthy. “You should be dead!” they said, confused. The Alaafin, however, didn’t respond. He simply stared at them in complete silence. This panicked the guards, who slammed the prison door shut and hurried back to their King to report their findings.
The guards bowed to greet their king when they arrived at the throne room. “Kabiyesi O!” “Kabiyesi, the Alaafin is not human. He’s a spirit. He is alive and doing very well, even though he hasn’t eaten in weeks!” “What?! Impossible!” he shouted, refusing to believe his guards’ report, and he immediately stormed off to see for himself.
When the king got to the Alaafin’s room, he flung the door open and was shocked to see the Alaafin just as his guards had reported – alive and well. “Haa! So it’s true you are a spirit”. He cried. Terrified because of what he thought the angry spirit might do to him, the king of Ilorin begged the Alaafin, “Please forgive me. I didn’t know”.
Seeing his opportunity to escape, the Alaafin spoke in a loud, powerful voice, pretending to be a spirit. “Forgive you? Bring me your finest horse, five of your strongest servants and 10 bags of gold as an offering, and I will consider it.“
The terrified king did exactly as he was told. He got his finest royal horse, bags and bags and bags of gold as an offering, and five of his strongest servants. He gave them all to the Alaafin, who then rode heroically back to his kingdom with all the treasure he had acquired from his captor. At the same time, the king of Ilorin never attacked Oyo again for fear of upsetting the spirit.
And so that is how one small act of kindness saved the life of the king and kept his kingdom safe for many, many years.
The End.
The Moral of the story:
The power of kindness. A small act, a big reward. The main lesson of the story is that kindness, even in hopeless situations, can be powerful and have a far bigger impact than anticipated. The Alaafin chose kindness over eating the mouse. This single act of mercy saved his life.
The Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. The Alaafin showed respect for the mouse’s life, and the mouse reciprocated that value by helping to preserve the king’s life.
Never underestimate the small (or weak). The story teaches that help can come from the most unexpected and seemingly insignificant sources.
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