GHANAIAN FOLK TALES SERIES : 3RD DECEMBER, 2020 THE WISE DUCK

Hello my fellow steemians, i greet you all. This is my first entry in the ongoing contest, Ghanaian folk tales series and am proud to share it with the house.

Once upon a time, a very wise duck lived in a stream beside the forest. The bright yellow duck had five little yellow ducklings. It was a very happy duck family. The duck would waddle all day in the stream with her five little ducklings. The mother duck would look for little worms , which she would use to feed her little ducklings.

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The duckling would swim behind their mother and all of them would quack together. The duck would tell different stories to her ducklings. One day, she told them about the great lion's story.

There lived a big lion in the forest; he was the king of the jungle. Every other animal respected him and was afraid of him as well. Most of the time, he was and he growled often. The king lion always longed to have duck soup for dinner. He watched the duck and her ducklings swimming in the stream. The lion let out a thunderous roar. The roar made the leaves tremble. All the animals in the forest got scared. "The lion must be very hungry," they thought. But the duck did not get scared, not even a little.

She just raised her head to see the lion. Then, then she started quacking and swimming delightedly. The lion notice this behaviour and did not like it at all. He became angrier! The lion called his assistant, the ant, and brought his attention to the duck's behaviour. "I want to catch that duck and her ducklings, and have a bowl of duck soup for dinner," said the lion angrily.

The ant listened to what the lion said. Then, the ant smiled and said, "if you want to have the ducks for supper, you will need to build a bridge first. " A bridge? The lion looked confused. "Yes, the bridge will go right across the stream ," the ant smiled again. Then the ant told the lion about its plan to catch the duck and the ducklings.

They were standing beside a big tree by the stream as they made their plan. The frog was about to go into the stream when it overheard the conversation. The frog got very scared and awam fast to tell the duck all about it. The duck was playing with her ducklings when she saw the frog coming towards her. "What is the matter, Frog? You seem to be very nervous!" the duck said. The frog told her about the lions and the ant's conversation. The duck nodded and sighed.

"How can i help you?" the frog asked in a kind voice. "Just be yourself," the duck advised. "The lion is planning to eat you! Are you not afraid?" the frog looked surprised."No! Tell the lion that i am not afraid of him," the duck said firmly. Soon all the animals of the jungle came to know what the duck has said.

When the lion heard this, he was not happy at all. He ordered the ant to start building the bridge. All the other animals were so afraid of him, that none of them offered their help. They thought that if they made even a small mistake in building the bridge, the lion would eat them up. Only the spider decided to help the ant to build the bridge.

For three days, the spider constantly spun a web of deceit and the ant kept on digging the soil day and night to built a hill. When the spider's web was long enough to cover the river and the ant had made a big enough hill for the lion to climb in to, they stopped. They went to give the lion the good news. The lion smiled.

The next morning, all the animals gathered by the river- side. They knew that the lion was planning to catch the duck. The lion saw the ant -hill. "Well done, my assistant", the lion said to the ant. The ant bowed down. " But where is the spider web?" the lion looked at the spider. "The web is spun, the sun has made it invisible," the spider replied.

The lion started climbing the anthill, by the river. Once he reached the top of the hill, he leaned forward forward to get on the spider web of deceit and cross the river. But alas! The spider web was not strong enough to carry the heavy weight of the lion. The lion fell into the river. He did not know how to swim and he drowned.

                    MORAL LESSONS

1. It is always good to be kind to others
2. Love everybody around you
3. Wickedness is not good
4. Don't be selfish