The Best Cook With A Sore and the Wise King
Copyright © 2021 Anike Foundation
Mamara was a very beautiful lady and a good cook, but she had an ugly sore at the back of her left hand that refused to heal. This restricted people from patronizing her.
Mamara lived in a town called Komiko. One day, the Duke of her town decided to host his fellow Dukes and other dignitaries at his daughter’s wedding.
He needed a cook to prepare food for his guests. In hopes of finding the best cook, he sent his chiefs searching far and wide. Although they knew that Mamara was the best in her community and all the neighboring villages, they did not contact her because of the ugly sore at the back of her hand.
As the searching continued, the various chiefs recommended different cooks; one of the chiefs recommended Mamara, but other chiefs rejected her.
Meanwhile, the wedding was fast approaching and the search for a good cook has not yielded any result. The other arrangements for the wedding were almost concluded and the Duke and his wives were getting worried.
The chief who recommend Mamara advised the Duke to conduct a contest for the cooks so that he could choose the best of them. The Duke took his advice and provided everything it would take to conduct the contest.
After the contest, Mamara was judged to be the best and the winner. The Duke accepted the result of the contest and picked Mamara to do the cooking, though other chiefs were against the Duke’s decision. But how would the expected Dukes and dignitaries from other communities feel when they heard that the cook who prepared the food for the guests of the Duke of Komiko had an ugly sore on the back of her left hand and, worse yet, they had eaten that food?
The Duke in his wisdom decided to employ a doctor to treat the cook. But he would not like his guests to see the dressing of the cook’s sore in case there was a need for her to appear publicly.
Therefore, he decided to give a prize to the best cook. He invited the award designer and specifically told him to design a prize for the back of the Cook’s left hand. His intention was to cover the ugly sore so that nobody would see it. The designer designed a very beautiful prize for the back of the left hand of Mamara. It was publicly presented to her and she put it on.
The dressing on her hand was covered completely; only the prize could be seen and, because it was very beautiful, the crowd burst out into applause. The king pleaded with the people not to tell anybody who had not known that the Cook had a sore, and they obeyed.
On the day of the event, the Cook prepared food for the Duke and his guests. They all ate and were happy. Thereafter, each of the guests began to invite the Cook to prepare food at their events. Throughout her lifetime, nobody who had not known before knew that Mamara had a sore, because the people cooperated with the Duke and never spoke of it again.