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Dede had said even more than I told Enyibe. He believed that kindness and good manners could even save the life of a person about to be condemned to death. He once told us about a child who was hated by the rest of his family. One day, when their father went to a distant market, the rest of the family arranged to sell this child into slavery. When the slave-buyers arrived, the child was alone in the house. But because he was innocent, he was not afraid when he saw the three slave-buyers. Instead, he rushed to the door, opened it for the three men and smiled.
'Welcome! the child said to the slave-buyers.
'E-hem! They responded.
'I believe you are my father's friends. The child said innocently. But I regret that my father is out of town. Please sit down, let me c if there are any kola-nuts left in the house.
While he was searching for the kola-nuts in his father's goatskin bag, the slave-buyers put their heads together and quickly agreed that the child was too good to be sold into slavery. Luckily for the child, too, he found some kola-nuts and offered them to the slave-dealers.
I believe that was the kind of child my father would like each of his children to be like.