Tell me your favorite childhood story in not less than 250 words in your own words.

Once upon a time there lived a King who had 2 sons; Gipir and Labong. He's kingdom was beautiful, with fertile soils, all kinds of animals and plants and a powerful river called the Nile. For years, the king's family and the people he ruled enjoyed this paradise. There was always plenty of food and water for each person. As a result, the people were always happy, living in peace with eachother.

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After so many years, the 2 boys grew into men and married beautiful women. They had children and started raising their own families. But the King had got old and he's health had started deteriorating and could not move much anymore.

One time the King fell critically ill, so he called he's sons and told them about he's illness and how the time had come for him to meet he's ancestors. He got a special spear which symbolized leadership in the kingdom and gave it to he's eldest son Labongo. The time had come for Labongo to take over the Kingdom just as it had been done from generation to generation; the first son inheriting the King when he passed on.

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The King died after a few days and Labongo took over as the new King. He became a good leader, maintaining the peace he's father had left behind but he was authoritative and could let emotions get the better of him at times.

One day Labongo went hunting and while he was there, an elephant strayed from the forest into the community. It moved through people's gardens destroying crops. Whoever saw it ran away into hiding in fear of getting killed by the angry animal that could not locate it's herd anymore.

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Gipir, who was in he's hut resting heard people screaming for help. He saw the elephant destroying everything that was in it's way and rushed to the hut where the two boys kept their spears for hunting. Without thinking, he got one of the spears and ran to the elephant and threw the spear at it. The elephant got injured and ran back into the forest and calm was restored back in the kingdom.

The people came out of hiding celebrating and singing Gipir's name with excitement, praising him for he's bravery. Labongo came back and found the celebrations going on, he was narrated to everything that had happened but he felt envious of he's brother's success.

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Labongo went to keep he's spear he had gone hunting with and found the special spear he's father had handed him missing from the hut where they kept the spears. It was the spear Gipir had used and it had remained stuck inside the elephant which ran away with it.

Labongo knew it was the spear he's brother had used to attack the elephant. He called Gipir and told him what this spear meant to him and the kingdom and ordered him to go look for it and bring it back. Gipir pleaded to Labongo to forgive him explaining the danger he would be facing in the big forest which harboured all kinds of wild animals, but the pleas fell to the King's deaf ears. He told him he wanted he's spear back by the end of the week.

Feeling sad and disappointed, Gipir bid farewell to he's family early the next day and went into the forest to look for the injured elephant that could still be running with the spear. He knew recovering the spear was close to impossible and there were high chances of him encountering a wild animal that could kill him, but he had to try, there was no other way.

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For days, he moved in the forest with the fear of being eaten by a wild animal, all the while eating raw plants to survive and sleeping in the cold. Days turned into weeks which turned into months and the elephant was nowhere to be found.

Gipir became ill and emaciated as a result of not eating enough food and got too weak to continue walking. With tears flowing in he's eyes, he cursed he's brother who had sent him to the forest to die. He gave up on he's trail and waited for death to take him.

An old medicine woman walking by in the forest saw Gipir laying down almost lifeless. She went to him and realized he was dying, he could not talk or even walk. She rushed to collect some medicine which she pounded and gave him to take. She also gave him some of her water which he drank and also used it to nurse the wounds which were all over he's body.

Gipir started talking and he narrated to the old woman everything that happened. Feeling sympathy for him, she took him to her hut where she lived and provided him food. She also offered him a place to sleep whenever he got back from the search of the lost spear.

Whenever Gipir went searching for the spear, he would hunt as well and come back to the old woman's place with meat for them to eat. This is the least he could do for the old woman for saving he's life.

Years passed as Gipir got fond of the life in the jungle. Then one day he discovered a skeleton of an elephant. On moving closer to examine what had happened to it, he saw a spear amidst the bones. It was the spear he had been searching for.. The Royal Spear.

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With excitement, Gipir broke into celebration. He could now go back home after years away from he's family. He went to the old woman's place and shared with her about how he had discovered the spear and she was happy for him.

Gipir decided to set off back home to the kingdom to return the spear. The old woman felt bad to see him leave but she wanted the best for him. She gave him a number of special beads to remind him of the time they had spent together in the forest. He thanked the woman for the beautiful beads and bid her farewell.

For days, Gipir walked back home until he reached. The people at first could not recognize him, but when he got closer, celebrations started immediately. Excitement passed through everyone as Gipir moved to Labongo to present the Royal spear he had gone to search for. Labongo hugged him, he was glad to have him back despite everything that had happened between them.

Days passed and activity resumed back on the village as usual. Gipir always moved with the beads the old woman gave him stringing them into patterns. To him they were a sign of kindness of humanity.

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One day, kids came to him to see the beads, Labongo's last born, a girl and he's favorite was among them. Gipir gave the beads to the kids to have a look, but Labongo's daughter put one of the beads into her mouth and swallowed it.

Filled with anger, Gipir went to Labongo and told him what had happened and asked for he's bead which the daughter had swallowed. He knew this was an opportunity to revenge what Labongo had done to him after the spear getting lost.

Labong pleaded but Gipir reminded him of the suffering he had caused to him after sending him into the forest to search for the lost spear. So he had to find a way of getting the bead from he's favorite daughter's stomach. The girl was cut and the bead retrieved.

With too much grief, Labongo could not bear having Gipir in he's kingdom anymore. The two brothers separated and each decided to settle in different places.

Gipir and he's family settled West of the Nile and became a tribe we call Alur which you find in the Northern part of Uganda.

Labongo and he's family settled East of the Nile. They are the ones who form the Japhadhola here in Uganda.

The tribes of Acholi, Japhadhola, Iteso, Langi, Alur all come from one origin, The Luo. And Gipir and Labong are believed to be their ancestors. That's the reason they have a lot of similarities in their language.

What are the lessons learned from that story? About 5 of them

1) Love

When you love someone, you can't let something bad happen to them. Labongo didn't show love to he's brother when he sent him to the forest to look for the royal spear he's father had given him. If he did love him, he wouldn't have sent him to the forest to risk him losing he's life from there.
Gipir's action of revenging through getting Labongo's daughter killed to retrieve he's bead also was wrong. He would have maintained he's love for he's brother despite what he had done to him. And the two could have remained together to grow the kingdom instead of separating.

2) Avoid Envy

When your envious, you feel you want what belongs to the other. Just like Labongo, when he became envious of Gipir's success of getting rid of the elephant from the community. Envy consumed Labongo and he saw Gipir's success with negativity instead of thanking him for saving he's people.

We should not compare ourselves to others. People will always be better than you in some ways and you should accept it just as you could be better than them in some ways. Be grateful for where you are and what you have. This will make you more positive.

3) Patience

Patience can be exhibited in a variety of cases and suffering can not be left out. There are many times we experience pain or get hurt and this triggers anger immediately. Just like Labongo's experience when he realised he's special spear was missing. He attacked Gipir and ordered him to go look for it without even thinking about the fact that this is he's brother he was sending to a dangerous forest.

Yes it is true he was annoyed but had he been patient, he would think about various ways of solving the problem, or call he's advisors or he's brother himself and discussed a way they could recover the spear without endangering anyone's life. We too should learn to be patient whenever we get angry so that we make the best decisions at that moment that could solve the problem.

4) Forgiveness

Forgiveness is very hard but one of the most important virtues we need to learn. Both Labongo and Gipir decided not to forgive, and there were heavy consequences for those decisions. If they had let go of their grievances, they would have judged better and none of what followed would have happened.

We should not hold onto the anger when we are annoyed however deep the hurt goes. Accepting what has happened and learning to live in a state of resolution with it makes us heal and decide what to do next better.

5) Compassion

As humans we should be more aware of the suffering our actions can cause to others. Labongo lacked compassion when he sent Gipir to the forest where he could get killed and Gipir lacked compassion when he decided to get Labongo's daughter killed in the name of retrieving he's bead. Had either of them put themselves in the other's shoes as they were making these decisions, the consequences that followed would have been avoided.

How did you learn the story or who told you the story?

I learnt this story from school in my Primary 4 class where we were studying about legends. This was part of a subject called social studies and it's the social studies teacher who told it to us.
These are believed to be the origins of some of our cultures here in Uganda so it was important for us to know about them.

At what age did you learn the story?

At the time I learnt this story I was aged 9 years.

Thanks @ngoenyi for this exciting contest. I look forward to reading new stories I must have missed when I was a child.

I invite;
@elkezaksek
@hillaryonbless
@namwoli
@kyara2