She knew the pumpkins in the old man’s field were
particularly tasty. Maybe, it was not the first time she had picked them from
it. So it was with this knowledge that she made her way there to pick up some.
Otherwise, other fields could have served just as well.
She furtively entered the field, the maize crop shielding
her from spying eyes. She harvested three well ripened pumpkins. Not satisfied,
she decided to harvest a fourth one. She stooped to pick it up but try as she
might she couldn’t get it off the ground. Puzzled, she put down the other three
pumpkins and redoubled her effort to pick up the difficult pumpkin.
She managed to pick it up and now in a hurry to get out of
the field, she stooped again to pick up the other three and was puzzled again
when she couldn’t pick them up! She strived rigorously, sweat cascading down
her face and panic mounting in her breast.
Something clicked in her mind that she had better get out
of the field. But when she tried to drop the pumpkin in her hand, she couldn’t!
She flailed her arms about but the pumpkin stayed in her arms.
Horrified she started shrieking. The baby on her back,
startled by her mother’s cries, started wailing as well. The noise attracted
the attention of passers-by who rushed to her aid and were also baffled by the
occurrence. Some ran to get the old man, who calmly told them to get the
village chief and meet him in his field.
In time, everything was sorted out. The old man ‘released’
the pumpkin from the woman’s hand, who by now was in such hysterics no one had
the heart to berate her so much. Nevertheless, the village chief fined the
woman who, horrified and ashamed, slunk off to her home where she stayed inside
her house for several days.
And the village, for several days, also fed on the wondrous
occurrence.
Peculiar News Compilation
'The Telling Is Mine; The Story Is Not'
© Dingiswayo Allan Sambo 2019
© Dingiswayo Allan Sambo 2019
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