When God created mother (Bruno Ferrero - From 40 stories of the desert)

The good God had decided to create... the Mother. He had already been fiddling around for six days, when an angel appeared and said to him: ‘This one is wasting your time, eh?’

He says: ‘Yes, but have you read the order requirements? It must be completely washable, but not made of plastic... have 180 moving parts, all replaceable..., run on coffee and leftovers from the day before... have a kiss that can heal everything from a broken leg to a love disappointment... and six pairs of hands.’

The angel shook his head and retorted incredulously, ‘Six pairs?’

‘The difficult thing is not the hands,’ said the good Lord, ’but the three pairs of eyes a mother must have.’

‘That many?’

God nodded. ‘One pair to see through closed doors when she asks, What are you kids up to in there? even though she already knows. Another pair behind his head to see what he shouldn't see, but needs to know. Yet another pair to say tacitly to the son who got into trouble: I understand, and I love you’.

‘Sir,’ the angel said, gently touching his arm, ‘go to sleep. Tomorrow is another...’

‘I can't,’ replied the Lord. ‘It is almost done now. I already have one who heals herself if she's sick, who can make a lunch for six with a pound of mincemeat, and who can hold a nine-year-old still in the shower.’

The angel slowly walked around the mother model, examining it with curiosity. ‘It's too tender,’ he then said with a sigh.

‘But resilient!’ retorted the Lord fiercely. ‘You have no idea what a mother can do or endure.’

‘Can she think?’

‘Not only that, but she can also make excellent use of reason and compromise,’ retorted the Creator.

At that point the angel bent over the mother's model and ran a finger over her cheek.

‘Here is a loss,’ he declared.

‘It is not a loss,’ the Lord corrected him. ‘It’s a tear.’

‘And what is it for?’

‘It expresses joy, sadness, disappointment, sorrow, loneliness and pride.’

‘But you are a genius!’ exclaimed the angel. With subtle melancholy, God added: ‘Actually, it wasn't me who put that thing there.’

It was not God who created tears. Why do we have to do it?

The Song of Mother Africa

A fairy tale, inspired by African oral traditions, about Mother Earth and the role of the youngest in protecting hearth.

A long time ago, when the earth was young and animals spoke to humans, there lived Mother Africa, the Mother of all living things. With her melodious voice, she sang every morning to wake the sun and every evening to put the moon to sleep. Her song brought rain to the thirsty fields, made the trees blossom and guided the birds in their flight.

One day, men began to forget their respect for the earth. They cut down trees without planting new seeds, hunted animals unnecessarily and polluted the rivers. Mother Africa, grieving, stopped singing. The sun hesitated to rise, the moon hid and the earth became barren.

The children, missing the singing that had always accompanied them, decided to look for Mother Africa. They crossed deserts and forests, until they found her sitting under a baobab tree, tears in her eyes.

‘Why are you crying, Mama?’ they asked.

‘Because my voice can no longer sing on a suffering land,’ she replied.

The children promised to teach adults to respect nature. They planted trees, cleaned rivers and cared for injured animals. Seeing their efforts, Mother Africa smiled and her song resonated again, louder and sweeter than ever.

Listen to your mother's advice

Here’s another fairy tale echoing the previous

One day, a house was short of provisions and so a mother said to her son: ‘Let us go to your uncle. And passing through the forest, we can get there before evening.’ And so they set off. On the way, the son saw a large orange tree. He climbed up and immediately started to suck them. His mother asked him, ‘Throw me some fruit. I am thirsty.’ Teasing her, the son only threw the peels at her. The mother was silent. A little later, they came across a small banana tree. The son, helping himself to a large bamboo, climbed into it and ate the ripest bananas. His mother asked him, ‘Throw me one or two bananas,’ but the son only sent her the peels. Further on, they saw some mango plants and there, he ate some delicious mangoes, but gave his mother only the stones. Seeing her son's bad heart, the mother left him in the tree and continued on her way. And the boy, when he came down from the plant and resumed the trail, got lost, because he did not yet know the forest path... and perhaps, today, he is still looking for it.

The proverb says: ‘Listen to your mother's voice, it will help you in life.’ Your mother prepares provisions for the journey, she only puts good things in them and what she prepares is a support for the journey. So trust your mother, accept what she gives you, listen to her advice and it will all do you good for your life'. Says the proverb, The new rope is knotted to the old. The mother is the symbol of all that is passed on by the ancestors. In kinande, the language of the Banande people of North Kivu, it is said: oMwana molo akalya nase, The good boy is called to eat with his parents, but oMwana mutsivu akayikula ngundi, The stubborn boy cuts the umbilical cord, he distances himself from the wisdom of the family.