A pure volition backed by good and upright judgment will always create an enabling atmosphere that must engender goodwill, trust and confidence.  But an impure volition is like a smoke screen that blurs and distorts good and upright judgment, which makes it difficult for the other person to keep his promises,' said Mr. Aku in response to a proposal by Dr. Zaki during the meeting between himself, Chief Mrs. Lucas, Nelly, Nunu and Mrs. Aku.  'When a mistake is made during the process of decision making, the inevitable consequences are that all those who must act in response to that decision may have to put extra efforts in order to act aright because, the error inherent in the mistake must favour more errors down the line.  If a man is traveling to a particular destination, if for any reason while on his way he gets to a junction where he becomes confused about which way to follow, he would be wise to get a reasonable and reliable guidance before continuin

 Once upon a time, there lived a great king.  His name was Adino.  Although the king was such a famous man, there were two things that bothered him always.  In his kingdom, the land of Mayomi, there was a terrible serpent that preyed the lives of the people.  The serpent was said to have seven heads.  It was so powerful that it could withstand any number of men that ever attempted to kill it.  Many great men had in the past given their lives to fight and kill the terrible serpent.  But none of them really succeeded.  No one went to the serpent and returned alive.  As for the king, he had already promised a great reward for any person or group of persons that would succeed in killing the serpent.However, once in a long while, the serpent would appear to someone in the land of Mayomi in a dream with the following message: 'I am the great serpent that owns this land.  I command the king to build for me a temple and

THE KING'S SECOND PROBLEMThe second problem that often robbed king Adino of his sleep was the fact that he and his wife had no child.  They had been married for fourteen years.  There was scarcely anything worth doing they had not done in order to get at least a single child.  But it appeared as if fate was against their desire.  Even the efforts of the people of Mayomi to help them failed.  For there was a time when the chief priest of the land declared a period of fasting and prayer all over the land for this purpose.  Individually too, most people had prayed in their closets for the king and his wife to be blessed with children.  They were indeed loved by every one in the land.  For the king was regarded by many people as a man sent by Heaven to save them from the hands of their enemies while the queen was believed to be the kindest woman in all the earth.  But it appeared as if the people's love for the couple could not

THE PRINCESS AND THE GOLD RINGThe king's two children continued to grow.  At the age of sixteen, princess Mara had already developed into such a beautiful maiden that the news of her beauty spread far and wide.  And being the first child, the king loved her so much that almost every time, he was thinking about what to do to protect her from all harm.  For she was so beautiful that she looked rather too delicate and fragile for the earth.  'What happened if by chance the serpent regained the power to hurt people?' the king thought like a child.  'Being so wicked, would the beast not go straight after his beloved daughter?'Although the king knew too well the fact that as long as the gold ring was there the serpent would not hurt anybody in Mayomi, he allowed this thought to gradually become a part of him.  But he never told his wife about it.  Instead, he decided on something he felt must be done to make sure his beautiful daughter wa

 There was silence inside the room.  The brother and sister looked at each other as if they had never met before.  None of them knew what next to say.  The princess had however already decided on what to do.  She loved her brother more than she had been able to express.As she had already said, she could not afford to lose him or her fiancé.  So she must stop them from continuing with that plan.  To stop them, however, she must do something she would never have liked to do.  Scarcely did her brother leave her room than she found herself in her father's bedroom.'You look terribly flushed, Mara,' her father said, 'what is the matter?’'Nothing,' she said, smiling.  'I've only come to make a request.’'Oh, go on my daughter.  But don't ask for what you don't deserve.’'Is there anything I won't get from you just for the asking?’'Well, well, well.  Of