Give a Little, Get a Lot

To put it a little bluntly, we live in a selfish world. So many people think "me first" all the time without giving thought or consideration to others. You see it in stores, on the roads as people drive, and even among friends and family. It's as if people believe only by putting themselves first without regard to others that they can move forward in life. How ironic that it's actually the opposite!

One of my favorite African folktales is "Koi and the Kola Nuts" (you used to be able to find it online for free, but not sure if you can now), in which Koi, the son of a chief, is left out of his father's inheritance when his father dies while he's off hunting. When he returns to find his brothers have received everything, he protests, but is given only a kola tree (the nuts contain caffeine and are used to flavor drinks but are not considered particularly valuable). So Koi takes the nuts and leaves the village. Along the way he meets a snake who needs a kola nut for medicine for his mother. Then he meets some ants who need to return some stolen kola nuts. And lastly he meets a crocodile who needs to repay an eaten dog with kola nuts. With no thought of reward, Koi gives each creature some of the kola nuts. When Koi reaches a distant village and has to complete three seemingly impossible tasks, each of the creatures he helped find him and help him accomplish the tasks, eventually resulting in Koi's marrying the chief's beautiful daughter and becoming heir to the chiefdom.

A lot of people look at this as simply a story, but the principle behind it is a truism. When you give, it comes back to you. Even better, giving often costs us very little either in time or effort. What we get back, even if it's not from the same person or thing we gave to, makes that small investment more than worthwhile. Of course, on the opposite end of the spectrum, if we refuse to give help at all, what we get back will assuredly be worse. For a prime example of that, read the Spanish folktale of "Medio Pollito" ("Half-Chick").

Have a question or issue that's nagging you? Send me an email and I'll find a folktale to help you out!