SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: Parable of the little thief
The story of a young man who grew greedy and spoke with food in his mouth
There once lived a little boy in a dusty and poor corner of the country. Like many in the village, his father had disappeared. His family was also not very well off. So the little boy was left to fend for himself. And the whole country was at war with itself. Soon he made friends with some adults whose organisation used to get into trouble with the bad authorities. Because of his dysfunctional family, and the strife in the country, the little boy’s schooling suffered. While their own children were at school, the adults of the organisation would send the little boy on errands to do things that children would not normally be suspected of doing by the bad authorities. The adults would also feed him. He soon learnt the ways of the adults, who continued using him on their secret missions against the bad authorities. But this taught him crucial tricks of survival in the unfriendly country. Because he had nothing to lose, he did everything the adults told him to do. He would throw stones a...
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