The Story Of The 1.

This story is the story of a sheep who always felt left behind, who always felt alone, even when it was among its peers. Who always excluded itself from everyone and everything but was suffering in silence.

Well it had a shepherd, who loved it so very much, and would always come and ask what is wrong, why isn’t it participating, why isn’t it eating and having fun with the others, but the sheep won’t say anything. The sheep felt hated, even when it was loved.

The shepherd was a very good one, one who always took count of his sheeps every morning, and made sure every sheep got cared for the same way. He had a total number of 100 sheep, and it is normal for sheep to wander away, but there was something particular about this shepherd’s sheep, they never did, because they never felt a reason to, everything they ever wanted was given to them.

Something unusual happened one day. This joyful shepherd was coming from his home, one day, singing joyfully. Counted his sheep, and screamed when he noticed they were 99, one was missing. He immediately felt sober and he went to get food for his remaining sheep, and his sheep noticed something was different about today, but the sheep didn’t even notice that one of them had gone missing.
The shepherd went and sat down at a corner and he started having diverse thoughts, and he wondered to himself if he had done anything wrong to allow a sheep to go missing.

The sheep, on the other hand, wandered off with the belief that no one will take notice of it, no one cared, no one understood or loved it, it left and soon it found itself in an abattoir, it was about to be slaughtered.

The shepherd after realizing, nothing would come out of just thinking, took his bag and set out to find his lost sheep.
He left his 99, to look for the 1, the 1 who never wanted to participate or relate. A lot of people would say the shepherd was foolish, but it wasn’t, it was a good shepherd who understands the value of finding a lost sheep.
He set out to find it, He looked everywhere, looked every corner, but couldn’t find it.

The sheep was scared, as it saw the butcher sharpening his knife. It cried out from a place of pain. It wished it hadn’t left its pen or its

shepherd who cared so much for it. It started to realize that its shepherd did love it and care for it, and it started to miss looking at its fellow sheep and having something to say about them, at least it won’t get a death threat. It felt bitter for the decision it made, as it had lost all hope already, then something happened.

The sheep heard a familiar voice shouting, It was the shepherd’s voice as all of a sudden, it became fearless and screamed to alert his shepherd it was in danger.

As the butcher noticed, he got the knife and was ready to slaughter, when the door was knocked down and the shepherd came into the room wearing an angry face. He saw his sheep tied down, and it got him angrier.

The shepherd commanded the butcher to loosen and give him his sheep immediately and the butcher started laughing.
The butcher asked “Have you ever seen an animal come in here, and go out. Every animal that enters here, gets slaughtered” as he increased his laughter. He looked at the face of the shepherd, and he was disturbed. The shepherd did not flinch. In the Nigerian language, he stood “gidigba” and gave a stern look at the butcher.

The shepherd moved forward and untied his sheep, as he felt compassion for his sheep. As he saw his sheep had been injured, he looked back at the butcher who was startled by what was happening and gave him a more stern look, as he did this time, there was a strike of thunder like never before, and the butcher dropped his knife and immediately ran for his life.

The shepherd picked up his injured sheep and carefully carried it home. When the 99 saw the shepherd bringing back the 1, they gathered together and they started bleating in happiness that the 1 is back.

The 1 looked and couldn’t believe what was happening, never in its existence would it have thought the rest of the sheep would rejoice over it or even more, its shepherd would come looking for it, an ordinary 1, and leave the 99.

The joy that filled the sheep’s heart was unexplainable.
What does this story mean to you, in the real world setting? What lesson could you pick up from this story? Do let us know In the comments section below.