In a land afar and far ago, there lived a people of Karonowa. They lived in perfect harmony with the spirit of the land, Karonowa. Therefore, the land was always filled with crops because, Karonowa roamed the land each morning and cultivated the land with food for her people to eat.
She was respected and loved by her people. If you were sternly quiet enough, in the early hours just before sunrise, you could hear her voice whisper to the earth words that planted seeds and let the crops grow with the morning dew.
Each morning after sunrise the people of Karonowa would walk around the land and collect food for the day. There were all kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans to pick from the crops, and the people enjoyed their feasts everyday under the bright sun that blazed fire.
At dusk however, the sun would disappear from the sky and all the crops would turn into brown powder and fall into the soil. Then darkness would cover the land. While the moon graced the people with its gleaming light. Silence would enter the heart of Karonowa and the people would all fall into a deep sleep until the next morning when the silent whispers of Karonowa returned.
Time and time again the cycle of the days repeated. The land was always cultivated and the people always feasted. But the more they feasted the more the land suffered.
See, the people of Karonowa did not take good care of the land. They would eat and leave their rubbish on the soil. Rats and pests filled the land too and the spirit, Karonowa, lost her power to grow crops.
Her whispers started fading away little by little, as the dirt made her weak, so the food she brought to the land was little and frail.
The people started getting hungry and weak since they could not get enough food. Eventually one morning, no one heard the whispers of Karonowa, and so the land had silent mornings and no crops planted.
Weeks and weeks came to pass. And each morning the people woke up to an empty quiet land, they became weak and frail. The children grew too tired to play in the fields and the elderly no longer told stories to the young.
Some mornings the people would sing a song of regret to Karonowa and begged her to whisper, but Karonowa would say nothing; the hunger pangs would grow more and more. They did not know what they did wrong to deserve this hunger, so more and more they pleaded to Karonowa for answers and help.
Finally, one night when everyone was asleep the land started roaring, the land shook and the people woke out of fear. The roaring sound grew louder and louder. The sound came from the roots cutting through the soil as a tree came to life from the ground. The tree was tall, it’s leaves dazzled with many different colours.
The people were excited, their weakness turned into strength. They were happy that Karonowa came with the force of the night to feed them. The children of the land carried their calabash bowls and knelt before the tree. However, in a deep raspy voice the tree shouted, ‘Get away from me you disobedient people!’
The tree picked each of its roots from beneath the soil and kicked all the people away from her land to a mountain on the other side.
Soon after, a storm and whirlwind came to help Karonowa clean the land from the rubbish the people left behind.
The people watched disgraced from afar as the rubbish they left behind was being cleaned by the spirits and they soon realised what they had done wrong.
So, from afar they sang to Karonowa, songs of forgiveness and promises to take better care of the land.
Little by little, Karonowa’s heartfelt sorry for her hungry people. She knew they were deeply sorry and weakened from the hunger so the next morning she spread out her roots from beneath the soil and dragged her people back to her land again.
Read – Why Can’t We Fly – A Children’s Story by Philip Muhia, Kenya
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