Narrate to your classmates an experience you have had or heard about which illustrates the saying: “You reap what you sow”.

THE WICKED STEP-MOTHER

Once upon a time, there lived a man called Alhaji Ajase who had two wives named Alhaja Kudi and Alhaja Khadijat. Kudi, the first wife had only a son ten years after their wedding. Perhaps, that motivated t he man to marry another wife. The second wife had six children;  three boys and three girls. The two wives lived a cat and dog life. The Alhaji was a wealthy man with fleet of cars, houses and industries. He was indeed a man of affluence.

Alhaja Khadijat who had six children hated not only the first wife but her only son. In a short while, she concluded arrangements to eliminate the first wife for no just cause, other than that she was jealous. She contacted a herbalist in their neighborhood to do her act. The herbalist  requested for the first wife’s name a strand of her hair and her saliva. Khadijat got these before long without Kudi knowing. One day Kudi slept and died in her sleep. Khadijat was busy shedding crocodile  tears; she wept for days, so much so that nobody ever suspected her as the killer of kudi.

After a year of Kudi’s death, she started maltreating Olubi, the only child of the deceased. The boy was only in primary for, but the wicked Khadijat made life unbearable for him. The boy became the family ‘house help’, but she hid this entirely from her husband as he would not  take it kindly with her. This woman and her children took undue advantage of the death of Kudi to unleash terror on the ‘hopeless’ boy. He was denied comfort, food and other things of life despite his father’s riches. More often than not, Olubu was made to sleep in the pantry, where he had to battle with mice, mosquitoes and cockroaches. Despite all these inhuman treatment meted out to him, he never fell sick for one day. Though, he was denied educational facilities by the step-mother, he always came first in all examinations.

It then came that Olubu and two children of Khadijat wrote National Common Entrance Examination. Despite thousands of Naira spent by the step-mother to aid her two children, it was only Olubu that passed in flying colours. In fact, he was awarded a scholarship as he came first in the examination in the entire country. the step-mother thought that the only masterstroke was to wickedly eliminate the body as she did to his mother, otherwise her own children would become his ‘errand boys and girls’ in future.

Alhaja Khadijat contacted the same herbalist who killed the boy’s mother to give her the same charms that killed his mother to kill him too, but the herbalist replied that the poison her had was not the same as the one of the past but it was equally effective. She got it and it  was to be sprinkled on the boy’s food. She did it as she was told and travelled out of town so that nobody would suspect any foul play. She warned  her six children secretly not to eat  the poisoned food before she travelled out on her fake journey. At  school, all the children were ordered to wait and do some manual labour, but Khadijat’s children being highly disobedient and wayward defined the order and went home. Olubu had no alternative, but to wait and complete the assignment before going home.

On getting home, Khadijat’s six children, at first, obeyed their mothers instruction not to eat the poisoned food. However, after finishing their own food and still not satisfied, they went ahead and ate out of the poisoned food reserved for Olubu. They quickly ate it and even fought each other in the process. Thereafter, t hey all entered their room and slept and all died in their sleep. Khadijat arrived from the market journey and met her six children dead instead of Olubu. Sh e cried, cried and cried and confessed that she did herself, that she killed Olubu’s mother out of jealousy and decided to kill her son too and  that the whole exercise backfired. She was immediately reported to the king who asked the villagers to meet at the market square. Khadijat was sentenced to death by hanging. She pleaded for pardon but the people replied ‘you reap what you sow’. She was hanged at the market square.