COMPREHENSION: THE KIND-HEARTED WOMAN
There was once a man named Banji. He lived in his village with a woman named Folake. Folake was kind-hearted and loved by all, by and by, she still had someone whom she didn’t know noted her. This person was her neighbour, Mrs. Amanda.
One day Mrs. Amanda decided to do something evil which will make the village banish Folake from the land. Mrs. Amanda decided to kill the sacred fish and put Folake into a big trouble: she called Folake so that they could go to the river, Folake willingly agreed not expecting or suspecting anything. While they were in the river, Mrs. Amanda caught the sacred fish and hit it hard on the head without Folake’s knowledge.
Then she put it by Folake’s side, Folake mistakenly stepped on it and she though she killed it. This led to Folake’s banishment from the village and she was not to be seen or talked to by anyone.
Folake began to live in the out-skirt of the village alone, even her husband and children (who were young) could not see her. She soon knew about the forest and knew the herbs for all kinds of treatments for illness or disease.
About eight years later, epidemics began to spread in the village and many people died. Bolu, Folake’s first child who had been visiting her mother for about two weeks now summoned courage and told the chiefs that her mother could cure the village. Those who had forgotten about her were surprised but they said knowledgeably that she had been banished from the village and so they said, “NO”.
After a year, they could not bear the deaths and decided to invite Folake to heal the villagers, and with special herbs she healed them without any problem, the villagers who were surprised, happily voted her as one of the chiefs and that was how Folake the kind-hearted woman was accepted into the village.
Few years later, Mrs. Amanda on her dying bed confessed her evil to the villagers and was thrown into the evil forest. Since then Folake became a life server in the village.