In the small village of Afflura, there lived a shoemaker and her family. She raised her five children on her own after her husband passed away. The eldest child will help her make shoes, the second, third, and fourth child will do the chores and take care of the youngest child. The families in the village are wealthy, some have herds of sheep and goats. And others have dozens of pigs and cows. And among all the rich families in the village, the family of the shoemaker is only the one who does not have any of the things that rich families have. They were very poor and making shoes in their small shack is just enough to sustain their daily needs. And some other days it is not even enough.
"Mother, I'm hungry," said the eldest child.
"Here my son, you can have this quarter-size potato I kept earlier," the mother said while opening the small cloth pouch where she had kept the potato.
"But what will you eat later mother?" asked the son. "It is okay my son, I am already full," the mother said.
They spent the day making shoes. Scraping, sand-papering the soles of the shoes, smoothing, blacking it, and hammering it to shape. And after they are done for the day, they went home.
"Mother why is it that my friends do not have any siblings and they are rich. And they have plenty of food and toys in their houses." the second child said. "They have lots of animals and their houses are nice." the third child said. "It is that having many siblings that made us poor?" the fourth child asked. The mother went silent. "No, it is not. We are rich because we are happy, we can eat good food in a day, and we have never experienced being starved." Said the eldest child and escorted the siblings into their bedroom to sleep.
The eldest child went back to the dining area where the mother is sitting.
"Mother" the eldest child uttered and held the mother's rough and calloused hands out of years of making shoes. "I am so sorry my son, for I cannot give you the life you deserved, I cannot give you nice clothes and house. And I cannot afford to buy you colorful toys" the mother said while tears are starting to fall on her cheeks.
"Mother, it is okay. Even though we don't have many foods on our table, we do have enough food to eat. Even if we don't have a nice house, we still have a warm and cozy home. Even if I have four younger siblings, you have never even sold any of us to the merchants just like what other families did to their child in exchange for money and wealth." The eldest child said and hugged the mother.
"Mother, your sacrifices to keep us all siblings complete is what made us wealthy enough."
***
PLAYFUL WORDS
by love_xixi
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Playful Words
Science-FictionPlayful Words is written by love_xixi and contains different short stories compiled in a single book. A book where you can find distinct stories with messages, lessons, and approaches. You can find here stories that you'll definitely like and could...
