One man’s trash is another’s treasure

By GEORGE OLWALO

There once lived a poor man called Frank. Frank hated begging and survived by his little means. He lived in a small mud hut. Even though his abode was modest, it was neatly built, nonetheless, with an accompanying flowerbed.

Not far from him dwelt a very rich man called Gitonga. With his innumerable herd of donkeys, goats, sheep and cattle, Gitonga was without a doubt the richest man in the village.

Where Gitonga’s house stood, there once was a grove of trees. Before constructing his house, he had cut down as many trees as possible. The landscape was altered and many tree stumps filled the area. To his dismay, when he tried re-planting them, they simply did not grow back. To make matters worse, due to the stumps deeply entrenched roots, no other plant prospered in that compound.

One day, Frank approached Gitonga. “I see that your compound is full of tree stumps.” He said after the greetings. “These tree stumps are my worst nightmare, they are not only an eyesore, but they also have prevented me from growing anything!” Gitonga barked.

“Pray, let me dig them out and make use of them,” Frank begged. “The better,” said Gitonga. “I don’t want them here!”

The following morning, Frank came armed with a pick and axe. With vigour, he dug out the tree stumps. With the stumps out of the way, Frank turned over the soil, levelled it and planted beautiful flowers. He, however, went ahead and made several charcoal moulds using the wood gotten from the tree stumps. For the rest of the week, he inspected how the charcoal was progressing. By the end of the week, the charcoal was ready for harvesting. Elated, Frank filled many gunny bags with the charcoal. He transported them to the market and sold them for a profit. He had made a fortune by making use of that which many had overlooked.

When Gitonga finally inspected Frank’s work, he was pleased. “Thank you for your beautiful work. As a reward, you will now be my garden keeper. A week’s worth of work turned a pauper into a self-sufficient individual.

 Moral: What others despise can turn be your fortune.