HERE once lived a tenant who grew tired of sharing the fruits of his labors with the landowner. He and his family worked hard to purchase one hectare of farmland. Through diligence and agricultural savvy, he maximized the production of his small farm.
The farmer saved his income and slowly expanded his landholdings to 10 hectares by buying the adjacent land of his neighbors. His yield increased tenfold and he was happy at first. Later, he realized another aspect of landownership which he deemed inconsequential when he still had no land of his own.
His neighbors’ animals trespass on his lands and damaged some of his crops. He tried to ignore these “petty” issues for a while, just to keep in good terms with his neighbors. The irritants persisted, however, that he decided to fence off his property.
Some animals were still able to get under and over the fence so the forays continued, much to the anger of the landowner. He filed a complaint against his neighbors before the courts and this was construed as a formal declaration of war between the landowner and his neighbors. Out of spite, they willfully set their animals free to inflict maximum damage on the landowner’s crops.
The legal tussle and strained relations took their toll on the land owner that he decided to sell his land and move to a more peaceful place. He learned of a tribe which possesses vast tracts of agricultural land and he set off to locate the tribe to convince them to sell land to him.
He found the tribe after so many days of travel and he was astonished when the tribal chief said: “For P100,000, you can have all the land you want. As much as you can go round on your feet in a day will all be yours!”
“But there is one condition: If you don’t return on the same day to the spot where you started, your money is lost,” the chief admonished him.
The man was ecstatic. “If I have as much land as I want, I will not fear even the devil himself!” This was his last thought before he surrendered to sleep. The devil was also his first thought when he woke up because he dreamed that the devil was standing over his dead body on a hill and laughing his heart out at him!
Long before the sun rose on the following day, the man met with the tribal council on a hill. He informed them that the hilltop will be his starting point and he will return to that spot before sunset. As soon as the sun peeked over the distant mountain, the man walked briskly down the hill with his spade while the elders settled down to wait for him.
The man ran as fast as he can and, at every turn, he dug up a hole with his spade to mark the area he had covered. He looked back at the hill and saw that he had traveled quite far from it. He was happy that he had already covered quite a large area that early.
The sun rose high up in the sky and yet the man trudged on, digging a hole with his spade and marking the area he has covered in every turn. Higher the sun rose and hotter its rays became but these did not seem to affect the man who kept on walking to cover as much area as he can.
The sun reached its peak in the sky but the man never considered pausing. Aside from taking an occasional sip from his water bottle, he did not bother taking any nourishment. He figured that the weight of the food he will carry will only slow him down and the pause that he has to take when he eats will reduce the time that he can walk and cover more land.
So the man marched on until he noticed that the sun was already gradually descending towards the west. He looked back at the hill and was alarmed that he can no longer distinguish the forms of the tribal elders from that distance. He turned around and surveyed the area he had already covered and he was satisfied.
He decided to make a beeline for the hill to close out the area he had traveled. He walked more briskly but he noticed that there was little spring to his steps. Further, he panicked when he saw that the sun was casting longer shadows around him. He ran for all his worth, racing against the setting sun.
The tribal leaders were amazed at the vast tract of land that the man had covered. They cheered him on as he approached the foot of the hill while the sun was inexorably setting further west.
The man was breathing in short, sharp gasps and his heart was pounding wildly in his chest as he made his way up the hill. The man’s body can no longer bear the pressure and the effort it had exerted that the man suddenly fell dead as he neared the hilltop.
The tribal elders shook their heads and clucked their tongues with pity. They picked up the man’s spade and dug a hole for his grave.
When they buried him, they learned that six feet from his head to his heels was all the land that the man needed.
Got this from sunstar.
short story.... just a little time to think...
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