Long, long ago there lived in a small town two servants. One was gifted with the art of talking whilst the other was mostly quiet, and shy. They worked for a common master who owned a big garden and gave them food as their reward. This reward was paid by their master only after an oral narration of work done.
The routine of the one gifted in the act-of-speaking was, “I cleared the weeds, cut the woods, serve foods to the horses, and even bathed the doves so their white color will remain unsoiled.” The quiet servant would often say, “Master, I worked for my own good, so please give as I deserve.” Why someone who worked for food will claim that he worked for his own good was something that baffled everyone in the master’s house. The short of it was that the servant who spoke more was given much of the food.
The wife of the master felt bad for the servant who received little and so the next day during working hours planned to observe what actually happens. From her hideout, she heard, “I will not apply all my talents fully to this job where all my reward is food,” uttered the good speaking servant. But this the quiet servant replied, “If our reward is only for food then that is really the price for the work we do. One cannot receive more than they actually work for,” with childish confidence.
The wife watched as the vocal servant found a cool place under a giant tree and laid his bed. The other wrestled in the scorching sun feeding the doves and racing ahead of time to complete all task. The wife, thought, “the narrative will be different and the quiet servant will receive more tonight.”
However, when the master came and they were to render the account, the quiet servant only said, “I work for my own good, so please give as I deserve.” He ended up getting smaller food than the lazy servant who woke up and recounted all the work done. When the wife tried to defend what he had seen, the husband cut in and said, let him speak for himself.
Time passed on until the master would not have anything to do with the quiet servant again, and so when the emperor in their town requested all Masters to give resource for a community project, the Master embraced the opportunity and parted with the quiet servant.
At the Emperor’s palace, their first test of intelligence and experience was that, the emperor placed food in a flat bowl and filled a cup to the brim with a poisonous liquid. He then placed the two beside each other. The servants were then made to stand several foots away, and were made to think of a mechanism to empty the cup without contaminating the food with the poisonous substance. The Winner was to be crowned master of all the servants in the kingdom.
Some servants designed a rope to lift the poison away from the food but in the process, the poison fell and contaminated the food. Others, though cruel, commanded their favorite pet to drink the poisonous substance, but in the process the pets will lift their head to swallow only for some of the liquid to contaminate the food.
Close to dusk, when every attempt had failed and the emperor was about closing the event, the quiet servant approached his former master’s wife. He asked for permission to visit the master’s garden. The wife granted the permission and pleaded on his behalf for time extension.
Half and an hour later, they saw the quiet-servant approaching with a dove seated on his shoulder. Everyone moved away and gathered around him in circle. The servant knelt down and released the dove in the direction of the food and poison. They watched and saw the dove drink away the poison without lifting its head and then flew away without contaminating the food.
“Where have you gotten this knowledge from?” The surprised Emperor asked. The quiet servant shyly replied, “My work taught me this. Doves are the only birds in the world that do not need to lift their head to swallow liquid. And this I had observed while carrying out my routine work in my Master’s garden.”
“I always knew that I work for myself and that every experience was giving me the skills that I needed to stand before kings and not obscure men,” the servants who suddenly seemed to find his voice said.
“Before I accept the promised gift,” the quiet servant continued, “please permit me to be called the servant master; this will remind me that only a true servant can be crowned a real master.”
The Emperor crowned him “the Servant Master”.
Written by Lovis Kwasi Armah (MotX Ghana)
Author of The Limit of Human Goodness and The Wisest Man From the East.
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