Wives and mothers-in-law rarely have a perfect relationship. These two women often compete. That’s exactly what happened to a young lady named Kebe. She got married and moved in to live with her in-laws.
The two ladies did not get along well. The older one was old fashioned and very demanding. She had not raised her son to be treated like that! So, they got in many fights. It wasn’t a home full peace.
Things got from bad to ugly. Mother-in-law kept on telling her how to do things. She made her life unbearable, and the young woman complained to her husband. Unfortunately, he decided to support his mother in the conflict. Kebe would not put up with it and returned home to her parents.
Kebe’s dad was a famous doctor, a herbalist. She asked him to give her some poison to deal with the old witch. He answered:
“Dear, if you give her poison, and she dies then the police will arrest you and then me. I think it will not be safe to do so.”
The girl replied that she cannot live unless the old woman dies. He came up with a cunning plan to help his daughter. He gave her some powder and said:
“You have to add just a pinch of poison in your mother-in-law’s food daily. Due to the less quantity of poison she will not die immediately, but she will get weak and after 5-6 months she will die, and people will think that she died a natural death.”
However, watch your husband. He should not suspect anything, lest he puts you in jail. Stop all the quarrels with your mother-in-law. Be a good girl to her to avoid any accusations. Give her respect and love.
Kebe decided that she can do that for six months and changed the way she interacted with the old woman. Weeks passed, and her mother-in-law changed her attitude, too. The two of them started to get along much better than before. The senior lady blessed and helped the younger. However, Kebe kept on adding poison to her food.
Over time they developed a mutual bond. Ladies ate together, talked and shared, helped each other much. In 5 more months, Kebe viewed the senior woman as her own mother. She stopped giving her the poison, but could not even think of her death. She returned to her father and asked him for some remedy to reverse the killing effect of the poison she used on her mother-in-law.
Here is what she said:
“My mother-in-law is a very sweet woman, and now I don’t want her to die. Please give me an antidote to reverse the effect of the poison you gave me.”
The father’s answer was awesome. He laughed and said:
“Poison? What poison? I did not give you any poison. I gave you some remedy for her stomach instead!”
This story teaches us some wisdom. We can help our children and others to fix relationships, if we stop giving them the poison of our opinions and misery and teach them how to love others instead!
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