In the village Gudlum in South Africa there lived a Black farmer by name Robert. His was a small family?himself, his wife, his son, a pair of bullocks and a dog.
Robert had 2? acres of dry land. He used to cultivate it with all efforts. However, the rains were uncertain. As such in some years the farm produce was too meagre and Robert had a hard time to feed his family.
For years together he was pulling on with great difficulty.
Robert'swife was disgruntled because she could never get good clothes leave aside ornaments. Nor could she provide good schooling to her only son. She would often fume and picked up quarrel with her husband over trifling matters.
She pleaded that Robert should dispose of the land and their old house and the family should shift to Kimberley. Kimberley was situated 150 km from the village Gudlum. Kimberley is famous for diamond mines. There is always standing demand for labourers for working in the mines.
Robert'swife argued, ?The labourers get regular salary. They are provided with tenements to live. Kimberley being a big city, had lot of facilities like good schools, shops and hospitals. If you get the job of a labourer there, all our worries will vanish. Our son too can study in a good school.?
Robert ignored his wife'spleas. He would keep quiet. But his silence would hurt her more and on petty occasions she would burst.
Robert was fed up with his wife'sdiscontentment. So finally he decided to leave the village once for all and shift to Kimberley.
The head of the village tried hard to dissuade Robert from his plan to leave the village. The village head said, ?You are an owner of a land. Land is immovable wealth. Nobody can steal that wealth. You can get loan from the bank. We the people from this village will also help you. You can dig a well in your farm. You will get sure and better yield thereafter.?
The argument made by the village head had little effect on Robert'smind. The uneasiness at home was so great that finally Robert disposed of his land and house, obtained an amount of Rs. 25,000/- and finally the family said good-bye to the village Gudlum once for all.
So Robert started working as a labourer in a diamond mine. The family got the accommodation in a tenement. Robert'sson got admission in the new school without any difficulty. Decent amount of Rs. 25,000 was available at hand. And so nearly one year passed with some relief and comfort.
After one year slowly the family started feeling the shortcomings of the city life.
The prices of daily necessities were rising. The salary did not rise in that proportion. The labour unions were strong. Sometimes labourers went on strike. The unrest resulted into street fights also.
The new school wherein Robert'sson was studying was not upto the mark.
Robert was now helpless. There was no escapade from the circumstances which he himself had invited.
Once Robert happened to hear a murmur in certain quarters that the mine where he was working would exhaust soon. So the retrenchment of labourers was in the offing. He also heard that the mine-owner was in search of a virgin land away form Kimberley where rich diamond deposits would be available.
Unfortunately both the pieces of information proved true.
Instead of retrenchment, the mine-owner reduced the working hours of the labourers and their wages too in that proportion.
A news broke out one day that the trial pits and sampling undertaken by the mine-owner finally reached a successful end and the owner had decided to purchase that particular piece of land situated some 150 km from Kimberley.
Robert was further shocked to learn that the fields so purchased were right from his village Gudlum and that his earlier land which he sold for Rs. 25,000/ only was purchased by the mine-owner for Rs twenty five lacs from the person to whom Robert had sold it!
Robert and his wife repented and repented to no avail. Robert had the fortune hidden just beneath his feet and now he had no alternative other than working as a labourer, for the rest of his life.
