The Two Old Enemies

There were two old men who had been enemies since they were young. At this time they both happened to be taking a trip to the same place at the same time. Since they were enemies they decided to avoid one another and stay far a part. One of the old men sat in the stem of the ship while the other sat in the stern.

Then the ship in which the two traveled struck a reef and began to take on water uncontrollably. After hitting the reef a violent storm arose and the ship was in danger of sinking. All of the passengers began to frantically trying remove the water from the ship with buckets. The two old enemies did nothing because neither wanted to help the other.

“Is the ship going to sink?” asked the old man who sat in the ship’s stern.

“Without each of us working together we are lost,” replied the ship’s captain.

The other passengers continued to work frantically to remove the water that inundated the ship.

“We need all hands or we are lost,” said the captain.

“Which end of the ship will sink first?” asked the second old man who sat in the ship’s stem.

“It looks like the stern will go down first,” said the captain, “but the entire ship will be lost. If you two will put away your differences now we can all survive.”

“I will never lift a hand to help my enemy. And it gives me comfort to know that my enemy will perish before me.”

Everyone on the ship perished…

Hamzatu