English for Students

The Feast

The Feast :



One a chief decided to give a feast for his people. He sent his men to every village. They told the people to come to the chief’s house and said, "The Chief asks each of the men to bring one bottle of palm wine and pour it into a pot at the door."


The day of the feast came. People put on their best clothes and walked to the chief’s house with their families. They stopped at the door of the chief’s house and poured their bottles into a very big pot at the door.


There was a man who wanted to go to the feast very much. But he had no palm wine at home. His wife said to him, "You must buy some palm wine."


But the man answered, "What? No. I don't want to buy wine for a feast that is free. No. No!"


He thought a little and then said, "Hundreds of people will bring their Wine and pour it into the pot. A bottle of water cannot be bad for so much wine."


And so he went to the feast with a bottle of water. He poured his bottle into the pot as other people did. Then he sat down at the table with all the other people and waited for the glass of palm wine which he liked so much.


The chief said, "Let's drink wine, dear guests!" All the guests took their glasses. But what they drank was not palm wine, but water!


So our man was not the only one who thought, "A bottle of water cannot be bad for so much wine."

African Folk Tales Index