The Baobab Tree’s Secret

In Amagu village, there is a giant baobab tree. The tree seems to be the oldest in the village, about which everyone talks, and some people say it is the one that protects the village from evil spirits entering.

The elders in the village believed that the freehold secret needed to be passed on to their children.

Every evening, children would gather beneath the tree while the oldest man in the village named Baba Femi, told stories of the past about brave hunters, who saved the village during the time of war, the strokes of wise chiefs, and clever animals.

One day as the children gathered beneath the tree to hear some stories, one of them named Tunday, became curious. He asked Baba Femi, *"Is it true that the baobab tree knows everything that happens in our village?"

Baba Femi looked at him and smiled.

"It is not everything", he said, "but it remembers what people forget".

Tunday didn't understand him. Trees couldn't talk or could they?

One cold night, while everyone was asleep, Tunday walked to the baobab tree alone. As he got to the place, he placed his ear against its rough bark.

He heard nothing at first.

Then slowly the ind moved through the branches like whispers.

Tunday then heard laughter from a far distance, songs from old festivals, and the voices of elders who had already gone.

As the day broke, Tunday ran back to Baba Femi.

He said. "The tree is full of voices!".

Baba Femi nodded his head gently.

"My son, that is the sound of our history that you have heard. The tree remembers because we keep telling our stories beneath it".

From that very moment, Tunday made a promise to himself in the presence of Baba Femi that he would never let the stories die.