THE MAN AND THE HORSE

Good day guys, this morning I woke up with a story in my mind. Perhaps, I have read or heard it somewhere, and or even a product of my fictional mind. 

Longtime ago, there lived a man in the countryside of one of the Africa countries. He was stupendously wealthy and benevolent to both the rich and the poor, the great and the small, the old and the young. No one comes to his house for any need without receiving measures of his kindness. 

There used to be a horse race competition among the town where he lived and other neigbouring towns. It is usual for his town to come last in such a race at a time until he traveled to the far east of Africa to buy one of the best horses there. Ever since he bought the horse, however, his town came first in all the competitions for over a decade.

As the years passed by, the man and the horse grew older. So there was this particular competition, the man and the horse went to, of which the horse came last in the race competition. The whole country men were bitterly agnry such that they left the man to bore the shame of the ignoble defeat with his horse with the exception of few people who came to sympatize with them.

On his way back, the man and the horse stumbled as they approached his abode which unfortunately led to the death of an innocent young boy who was coming to welcome the man and the horse back. 

The whole towners was agog with angst considering the fact the child who is dead is the only surviving child of a eighty year old man without a wife. The youths in their exuberances not only killed the horse but  torched his house down. It took the effort of few sympatizers to rescue his family members; yet they were not appease until the king of the village has to entreat him and his family to go on temporary exile. 

As the man sojourn with his children and wife to the enarby town, he became weak and tired, so he requested they rest a while under bamboo trees. It was while there, he counselled his children thus:

• Wealth will bring you friends and fans, but never allow the accolades you receive from such men get over your head.
• You are only relevant to people as much as you are useful to them. 
• People will forget the good you do to them, but will hardly forget the wrong you wrong with them.
• Never over strecth your luck and strenght. Know your limits even when people and challenges of life try to mount pressures on you.
• Every man - young or old, great or small and rich or poor has his own cross to bear, try as much as possible not give them extra burden by your negligence.
• Wealth is a defence. Health is an insuerer. Wisdom  is a gurantor; yet a man without hope is dead while he lives. 
• Be the best at whatever you do, and you will be celebrated by both great and small.