The Farmer Stole the Forest Mat… and the Forest Came for Him
My mat! My mat! Give me my mat! My mat! MY MAT! GIVE ME MY MAT! MY MAT! MY MAT! My mat! My mat! Give me my mat. WHY DID YOU TAKE MY MAT? WHY DID YOU TAKE MY MAT? I AM SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. BEFORE WE dive into today’s folk tale, >> [music] >> please take a second to like, share, and subscribe.
Your support means everything to us. Now, let’s travel to the village of Uzomu. In the golden village of Uzomu, there lived a man named Razi. Razi was the poorest farmer in the land. His clothes had more holes than fabric, and his farm was full of stubborn weeds. But Razi had a secret problem. Whenever he earned a few coins, he didn’t buy seeds or a new hoe.
Instead, he stopped at the village square to buy jars of strong palm wine. “Razi, go home and water your crops.” the villagers would shout as he walked by, swaying from side to side with a blurry smile on his face. “I am hiccup just resting my legs.” Razi would laugh. >> [music] >> But deep down, he was sad.
He drank because he was tired of being poor. But being poor made him want to drink even more. It was a circle that never ended. One hot afternoon, [music] Razi was lying under a baobab tree on his farm, feeling a bit dizzy from the morning’s wine. Suddenly, he heard heaviest footsteps. Two hunters were walking by, whispering.
“I am tired of chasing bush meat.” the first hunter said. “I want the forest spirit mat. They say if you find it and sleep on it, you will wake up with more gold than the king. The second hunter shivered. The spirit mat? That is in the forbidden forest. It is too dangerous. Only a fool or a very desperate man would go there.
Razi’s eyes flew open. The fog in his head cleared instantly. Gold? More than the king? He thought. If I am rich, I can buy all the wine in the world and never work again. That night, >> [music] >> instead of reaching for his jug of wine, Razi grabbed his walking stick. The moon was a bright glowing orange slice in the sky.
He marched toward the forbidden forest where the trees were as tall as giants and the shadows seemed to dance. The forest was spooky. Colorful birds with glowing eyes watched him from the branches. Razi was terrified. His legs felt heavy and his heart was thumping [music] like a drum. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. He sat down to rest by a tree that had bark like wrinkled skin.
Suddenly, a soft white light appeared. A tiny spirit, no bigger than a toddler, came walking through the bushes. The spirit was glowing like a campfire and carrying a beautiful woven mat. But the spirit was crying. Boohoo. Boohoo. It sobbed, its tiny tears hitting the ground like diamonds. The spirit walked to a sparkling blue river and set the mat down on the soft grass.
[music] It leaned over to take a long drink of water. Now was the moment. Razi forgot his fear. He forgot his tired [music] legs. He crept up like a cat, snatched the glowing mat and bolted. My mat! Give me my mat! The tiny spirit cried, its voice echoing through the trees. Razi ran faster than he ever had in his life. He burst out of the forest, ran through the village, and dove into his hut, slamming the wooden door shut.
Bam! He leaned against the door, clutching the mat to his chest. “I did it,” he gasped. “I will be the richest man in Uzomu.” But as he laid the mat on the dusty floor, the room suddenly filled with a blinding magical light. The tiny spirit was standing right there on the mat, [music] looking Razi straight in the eye.
PART 2:
The glow in Razi’s small hut was so bright, it looked like [music] a falling star had landed on his dead floor. The tiny spirit stood on the woven mat, [music] its eyes large and shimmering with tears. Razi fell to his knees, his hands shaking. He wasn’t sure if he was trembling from fear or from the leftover effects of the palm wine [music] he had finished that morning.
“Please, great spirit,” Razi begged, pressing his forehead to the ground. “I am tired of this life. I am tired of the village children laughing at my torn clothes. I heard the hunter say your mat could make a man rich overnight. I didn’t mean to make you cry, but I am desperate.” The spirit [music] stopped sobbing and looked at Razi with a very serious face.
The spirit’s skin looked like polished silver, and its voice sounded like tinkling bells. “You want to be rich, Razi?” the spirit asked. Razi nodded his head so hard his neck hurt. “Yes, I want to be the greatest [music] man in Uzomu.” The spirit sighed, a sound like wind through dry grass. “Wealth is a heavy basket to carry, [music] farmer Razi.
Many men want it, but few can keep it. I will give you this mat, but there are rules. If you break them, the gold will vanish like smoke in the harmattan wind.” Razi leaned in close. “I will do anything. Just tell me.” “The first rule of wealth,” the spirit pointed a tiny glowing finger, >> [music] >> “is keeping a secret.
You must never, ever tell anyone about this mat. [music] No one must see it. No one must sleep on it but you. You must keep the story of how you became rich buried deep in your heart, deeper than any seed you have ever planted.” [music] Razi nodded. “I can do that. My mouth is a locked gate.” “The second rule,” the spirit continued, “is sacrifice.
You have already sacrificed your safety by entering the forbidden forest, but the greatest sacrifice is kindness. >> [music] >> You must use your wealth to lift others up, help the widows, feed the hungry, and be a brother to those who have nothing. >> [music] >> If you are greedy and stingy, the mat will know.” Razi promised with all his heart, >> [music] >> “I will be the kindest man in the world.
I will help everyone.” The spirit looked at Razi one last time, a [music] look of warning in its glowing eyes. “Remember, Razi, if you tell a single soul about the [music] mat or how you found your gold, your riches will fly away and you will return [music] to the dust.” With a flash of light, the spirit vanished into thin air.
Razi felt a wave of peace wash over him. He spread the mat on his floor and lay down. It felt like sleeping on a cloud. “Tomorrow,” he thought, “I will wake up to piles of gold.” But when the rooster crowed the next morning, Razi jumped up and looked around. The hut was empty. There were no coins, no gold, no jewels, just the same old clay pots [music] and his tattered blanket.
“That little spirit lied to me,” Razi shouted, kicking [music] the dirt. “I risked my life and I am still a beggar.” Angry and sad, Razi walked to his farm [music] to dig for yams so he wouldn’t starve. He swung his hoe into the dry earth with a loud thwack. But instead of hitting a root, the metal hit something hard. Clink.
Razi dropped to his knees and dug with his bare hands. He pulled out a heavy, dirty sack. When he opened it, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was filled with gold coins and shimmering jewels. “It’s true,” he whispered, looking around to make sure no one was watching. He dug in another spot. Clink. Another sack of gold.
His farm was no longer a place of hard work. It was a treasure chest hidden in the dirt. Razi carried the sacks home, hiding them under his shirt. He was finally rich, but as he walked past the village tavern, he felt a familiar itch in his throat. He wanted to celebrate. He wanted a drink. The sun rose over Ozumo, but it didn’t look like the same village to Razi anymore.
To him, the dirt [music] looked like gold and the trees looked like emeralds. Every morning, Razi would go to his farm, not to plant yams, but to harvest wealth. You could see the sweat on his brow turning into sparkling diamonds [music] as he dug. Clink. Clink. Every strike of his hoe revealed a new sack of heavy gold coins and shimmering jewelry.
Razi was no longer the man in tattered clothes. He began to build a house so large it had its own shadow. He bought fine silks from the East and married beautiful wives who wore beads that jingled when they walked. He was the talk of the town. “How did Razi do it? The villagers asked at the market. One day he was a beggar and the next he’s richer than the village chief.
But as Razi’s belly grew full, his heart grew small and hard like a dried up cola nut. Remembering the spirit’s rule, Razi built a special room in the very center of his mansion. >> [music] >> It had a heavy wooden door with three iron locks. Inside, hidden under a silk cloth, lay the forest spirit’s mat. Every night, Razi would lock himself inside, sleep on the magical fibers, and wake up to find more gold buried in his fields. He became obsessed.
He didn’t want anyone to see the mat and he certainly didn’t want to share his luck. One afternoon, an old woman named Mazuba came to Razi’s gate. Her grandson was sick and she needed just two coins [music] for medicine. She stood before Razi’s tall gates, her hands shaking. “Razi, my son,” she pleaded, “you have so much.
Please, [music] help me save my boy.” Razi looked down from his balcony, swirling [music] a cup of expensive palm wine in his hand. He remembered the spirit’s words about helping others, but then he thought of how hard he ran from the forest. “I risked my life for this,” he thought selfishly. “Why should I give it away to people who sat at home while I was chasing spirits?” “Get away from my gate,” Razi shouted, his voice booming. “I am not a bank.
I worked for my money. Go and [music] find your own treasure.” The old woman wept as she walked away, but Razi didn’t care. >> [music] >> He was becoming famous for his stinginess. He stopped helping his old friends. When his neighbors asked for a handful of grain during the dry season, he told them he was just as poor as they were, even while wearing rings on every finger.
[music] His friends, Ojo and Toba, were suspicious. They used to share palm wine with Razi back when he had nothing. >> [music] >> Now, Razi wouldn’t even let them sit on his porch. “Something is wrong.” Ojo whispered to Toba as [music] they watched Razi enter his secret room. “He locks that door every day.
He never lets his wives inside. And have you noticed, he goes to his farm every morning, but he never brings back any yams, only heavy sacks that clink when he walks.” Toba’s eyes narrowed as Razi polished a gold ring on his porch. “He’s hiding something big.” Toba whispered to Ojo. “And since he won’t help us with even a [music] single copper coin, maybe we should find out exactly where his luck comes from.
” The shadows of the village grew long and purple as the sun set. Inside Razi’s grand mansion, the walls were decorated with colorful African patterns, [music] but the air felt cold because there was no love in the house. Razi had become a man of stone. [music] He sat at his large wooden table eating roasted goat meat [music] and drinking the strongest palm wine from a silver cup.
His youngest wife, Adana, walked into the room. >> [music] >> She was wearing beautiful waist beads that rattled, but her face was sad. “Razi, [music] my husband,” she began softly, “the neighbors say their crops are failing. They ask if you can lend them some [music] grain. You have stores that are overflowing.” Razi slammed his cup on the table.
Bang! Purple wine splashed onto the floor. “Let them plant their own grain. I am tired of everyone looking [music] at my pockets. I worked for this. I faced the terrors of the forbidden forest while they slept in their warm beds.” Adana sighed [music] looking toward the mysterious locked door at the end of the hallway.
“And what is in that room, Razi? You spend every night there. [music] You lock it with three keys. Even I, my wife, am forbidden from entering. Is there another woman? Or is it something dark? It is a place for my soul to rest, [music] Razi shouted, his eyes turning red from the wine. It is none of your business. Now, go.
As Adana left, crying softly, Ojo and Toba were peeking through a gap [music] in the compound fence. They saw Razi stumble toward the locked room, fumbling with his keys. He looked dizzy. The palm wine was making his head spin, >> [music] >> and his movements were clumsy. Did you hear that? Ojo whispered to Toba.
He mentioned the forbidden forest, and [music] look at that door. Whatever is in there is the key to his sacks of gold. Toba rubbed his chin. Razi was always a man who couldn’t say no to a deep jar of palm wine. If we want him to talk, we don’t need to break down the door. We just need to bring the biggest calabash of lion’s breath palm wine to his birthday celebration next week.
The birthday, Ojo grinned, his teeth white in the [music] moonlight. Everyone in Ozumo will be there. The king, the elders, the dancers. Razi will be so proud and so happy that he will drink until [music] he forgets his own name. In his secret room, Razi laid the forest spirit mat on the floor. The mat glowed with a soft pulsing green light, illuminating [music] the textures of the woven grass.
Razi laid down, feeling the magic seep into his bones. He was rich. He was powerful. [music] And he felt untouchable. He forgot the spirit’s warning, “Help other people. Lift them up.” “I don’t need them,” Razi muttered as he drifted into a heavy wine-soaked sleep. “I have the mat. >> [music] >> I have the secret. I am the king of Ozumo now.
” Little did he know, his friends were already sharpening their plan. The birthday party was coming, and with it, the wine that would unlock the gates of his ruin. The day of Razi’s grand birthday celebration arrived and the village of Ozoumu had never seen such a spectacle. Huge drums sat in the center of the square [music] and dancers in feathered costumes moved like flickering flames.
The smell [music] of roasted meat filled the air and the king himself sat in a chair of carved mahogany to honor the man who had become the richest farmer in history. Razi sat on a high throne wearing a heavy gold silk [music] robe that shimmered under the hot sun. He looked magnificent, >> [music] >> but his eyes were already glazed.
On his left and right sat Ojo and Togba grinning like hyenas. They weren’t there to celebrate, they were there [music] to work. “To Razi.” Ojo shouted lifting a giant calabash of lion’s breath palm wine, the strongest drink in the seven villages. “To Razi.” [music] Togba echoed pouring more wine into Razi’s silver cup.
“To the man who’s smarter than the spirits themselves.” Razi beamed. He loved the praise. He took a long deep gulp of the wine. It burned his throat and made his head feel [music] like a floating balloon. As the sun began to set painting the sky in deep purples and oranges, the king and the elders departed leaving only the true friends behind.
Razi was now [music] very, very drunk. He was laughing at jokes that weren’t funny and swaying in his seat. “Razi, my brother.” Ojo said leaning in close, his voice a low whisper. “We have known you since you had only one pair of pants. Tell us, how did you do it? Did you use black magic? Did you sell your shadow to a forest ghost?” Razi laughed a loud booming laugh that [music] echoed off the walls of his mansion.
“Magic? No, I am just braver than all of you. You hunters were too scared, but not me.” Toba feigned [music] surprise. “Scared of what? The Forbidden Forest?” “Yes!” Razi shouted, forgetting the spirit’s first rule. “I went into the Forbidden Forest. I saw a little white spirit crying by the river. While he was drinking water, I snatched his spirit mat. That mat is a secret.
The spirit said I must not tell, but you are my friends. You won’t tell, right?” “Of course not,” Ojo said, his eyes gleaming with greed. “Your secret is safe with us.” Razi laughed again, stumbling as he stood up. “The spirit said no one must see it, but I am too powerful for rules now. I am Razi.” He grabbed another jar of wine and drank until he collapsed into his chair, falling into a deep snoring sleep.
Ojo and Toba didn’t waste a second. [music] While the village slept, they didn’t go home. Instead, they grabbed their shovels and headed straight for Razi’s farm under the [music] cover of darkness. The moon over Uzumu was hidden behind thick charcoal clouds as Ojo [music] and Toba crept toward Razi’s farm. The farm looked different at night.
The soil seemed to pulse with a faint golden heartbeat. >> [music] >> The two men gripped their shovels, their eyes wide with greed. “Razi was a fool to tell us,” Ojo whispered, his voice shaking with excitement. [music] “He drank so much, he spilled his life like water on the sand.” “Don’t talk.
Just dig,” [music] Toba hissed. They began to strike the earth. Thwack! Clink! The sound of metal hitting a heavy sack made their hearts jump. They pulled out a bag that was bursting at the seams with gold coins and silver jewelry. They didn’t stop. They worked like possessed men, digging hole after hole, sweating under the humid night air.
By the time the first hint of blue touched [music] the horizon, they had unearthed every single sack of treasure Razi had hidden in the dirt. They dragged the heavy bags away, disappearing into the shadows before the village roosters could crow. Back at the mansion, Razi woke up with a head that felt like it was being beaten by a drum.
The palm wine from the night before had left a bitter taste in his mouth. He groaned, rubbing his blurry eyes. “My mat,” he muttered, stumbling toward his secret room. “I need to check my mat.” He fumbled with the three iron keys, his hands trembling. When the heavy door finally creaked open, Razi’s heart stopped.
The room was empty. The spot where the glowing woven fabric usually lay was nothing but bare cold stone. “No! No! No! No! No!” Razi screamed, his voice cracking. “My mat! Who took my mat?” He turned to his wife, [music] Adanna, who was sweeping the courtyard. “Did you go in there? Did you let someone in?” “I have no key, Razi,” she said, looking at him with pity.
“You were the only one with the power [music] to open that door, but last night you weren’t yourself. You were shouting your secret to the winds.” A cold sweat broke out on Razi’s forehead. He remembered the wine. He remembered Ojo and Toba leaning in close. He remembered everything. The farm, the gold. Razi ran out of his house, his expensive silk robe catching [music] on thorns as he raced toward his farm.
He reached his farm and fell to his knees. The ground looked like a battlefield. There were deep holes everywhere, and the dirt was [music] tossed aside like trash. He crawled to the nearest hole and thrust his hands into the soil, digging [music] desperately. “Please, just one coin, just one sack.” But, there was nothing.
The earth was silent. [music] The magic was gone. Razi’s farm was just a field of dust and empty [music] holes. He sat in the middle of the ruin, covered in mud, and began to cry. He had broken the first rule, the secret. He had traded his future for a few jars of wine and the praise of fake friends. Suddenly, >> [music] >> the air around him began to shimmer with a ghostly white light.
The trees groaned, and a familiar tiny figure appeared through the mist. It was the forest spirit, [music] but it wasn’t crying anymore. It looked powerful, tall, and very, very angry. The air on the farm turned ice cold, and a thick mist rolled over the empty holes. The forest spirit appeared, but it was no longer the small, crying creature Razi had robbed.
It grew taller, [music] its body glowing with a fierce electric white light that made the shadows dance. It held the woven mat in its glowing hands. “You break my rules, Razi.” The spirit’s voice boomed like thunder over the hills of Uzumu. Razi fell on his face, his expensive silk robes covered in mud. “I did not break them. I followed [music] them.
” he cried, his voice trembling. “Someone stole my mat. Someone dug up my gold. I am a victim, great spirit. Please, give me back my luck.” The spirit stepped closer, its [music] eyes shining like two moons. “Do not lie to a spirit, farmer Razi. Yesterday was your birthday. You felt powerful. You felt like a king.
And because you loved the taste of [music] palm wine more than the value of a secret, you opened your mouth and let your wealth fly out.” Razi sobbed, remembering the blurry faces of Ojo and Toba laughing with him. “I was not in my right sense. The wine, it made me forget. It was just one night.” “One night is all it takes to lose a lifetime of blessings.
” The spirit replied sternly. “I warned you that the first rule of wealth is keeping [music] a secret. But, there was a second rule, Razi. I told you to help others. I told you to lift the village up. Instead, [music] you became a mountain of greed. You turned away the hungry. You mocked the poor. You became stingy and hard.
” Razi looked at his empty hands. “I thought I thought I earned [music] it.” “You earned nothing.” The spirit said, its voice softening but remaining firm. “You took what was mine, and I gave you a chance to use it for good. But, because you were stingy, your friends became your enemies. They did not steal from a brother.
[music] They stole from a stranger who happened to have gold. If you had helped them, they would [music] have protected your secret. Now, they have taken all your gold and money for themselves. I will [music] let them keep it, for I know they will use it to feed the village you ignored.” “Please.” Razi begged. “I will change. I will never drink again.
” “It is too late for the gold, Razi. Your wealth has vanished. You must go back to your farm and work with your hands again. The soil will no longer give you sacks of coins. It will only give you what you plant. [music] And remember this, the wine was the tool they used to destroy you. If you cannot [music] master your thirst, you will never master your life.
” With a final flash of light, the spirit disappeared, taking the magical mat back to the forbidden forest [music] forever. Razi walked back to the village, his head hung low. He had no gold, no silk, and no mansion. His wives left him, and the villagers who once feared him now looked at him with pity. He spent the rest of his days working hard in the sun, planting yams and corn.
He never touched a drop of palm wine [music] again. Whenever he saw children playing, he would stop and tell them his story. He would warn them, >> [music] >> “Be careful of what you say when you are happy, and always hold a hand out to those behind you, or you might find [music] yourself standing alone when the storm comes.” Thanks for watching.
Now, we want to hear from you. Do you think Razi deserved to lose everything, or were his friends, Ojo and Toba, the real villains for stealing from him? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section. >> [music] >> And don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel. This means a lot to us. >> [music] >> My mat! My mat! Give me my mat! My mat! My mat! Give me my mat! My mat! My mat! >> [music] [music] >> My mat!
