Folkworks from Nigeria #1: TORTOISE AND THE BOX OF WISDOM

in #life7 years ago

Tortoise built a new palace in an attempt to fortify his Box of wisdom in order to gain monopoly of wisdom, he ordered soldiers to guard it for him. He stored all the wisdom in his possession in a box and carried it on his head from his former house to the new abode. On the way, Tortoise struggled to cross through a log of tree that has fallen across the path but to no avail. At this time, rat who was there watching the terrible ordeal of crossing the log with the box of wisdom advised Tortoise to first put the box on top of the log before crossing by himself. Tortoise obeyed and was successful.

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Having realized that he has no monopoly of wisdom, he dashed the box against a rock and it got destroyed. Anyone who picked the fragment added more to his wisdom. Tortoise later knew he had no monopoly of wisdom and he began to respect others. Nobody has monopoly of wisdom, it is better to listen to the opinions of others.