text: Badu was the tenth of his mother’s children. Though the rest of his siblings were average in every way, Badu was born with only one leg. The highest-ranked elder of the town, came to congratulate his mother on Badu’s birth and gifted her with his first cane. Saying, “Until he no longer needs it”. Despite the rumours and his wonky walk, his mother and father thought no less of him. He was their son and that’s what mattered most. But his brothers and sisters did not think like his parents, and they teased him, taking his cane, and running away. There was no way he could ever catch them. When Badu was eight, he went to school, and the boys and girls there teased him too. He wasn’t allowed to join in their games or play with them. All Badu wanted to do was run, like the people at school. Every morning he looked out his window and asked the birds in the trees “You have legs but do not need them, you have wings instead, I wish you would let me borrow them”. There was one boy who Badu was the most envious of. His name was Kofi. “You will never be any good at anything if all you think about is how good other people are” Near the school there was a deep river, it was one of the only places Badu could be himself. During the running games he swam around instead. He would spend all his break in there, usually in the shallows but sometimes diving under to collect pebbles at the bottom. He then used the rocks to pass time skimming them from the bank. Swimming was much easier for Badu; he didn’t need two legs to swim. Kofi, the boy Badu was envious of, was not only fast but also vicious. Badu avoided him as much as possible when they were let out to play. Kofi was training for the big run in the next town over, all the schools from the area were to meet there. Kofi had been picked, as well as nine of the other fastest boys and girls to run in the big race. Everyone was to go with them to support them, and in class they were making banners that had their choice of winner on them. That night he went home to his mother and cried on her lap. His mother laughed and told him, “Just because you are different does not make you a bad person”. Lying in bed that night, he spotted a spider spinning her web in the corner of the room. “Please stop! I must talk to you!” She turned to face him, “What do you want to you talk to me about?” “I need to borrow one of your legs for tomorrow, just for one day. I want to run in the race, to feel the wind rush past my ears, and not to stumble on every step” The sider shook her head, “I cannot do that for you” The boy cried out, “But I have only one leg and you have eight! Why won’t you share?” The spider laughed again, “You do not need legs to achieve greatness”, and with that she scuttled away into the night. The trip to the next town was tiring in the heat of the day, and everyone was thankful to finally be there. The first competitors lined up ready to start the race. The course went around the outside edge of a huge oval shaped lake. Badu and his classmates scattered around to spend the next few hours lazing at the lake. Kofi was in the second round of races. Badu went straight into the lake, it was such a hot day there was no need to stay on the hot dirt, and it was much more comfortable to watch from there. He went to a part halfway through the course, far away from where the crowd was mainly gathered. The runners from the first race had already finished. There was an ear-piercing whistle and they started to run. Kofi quickly fell behind the faster runners. Soon the first runners were passing Badu in the water. They came in sections. So, it was a few minutes before Badu realised, he hadn’t seen Kofi yet. The last time he saw him was at the start of the race. He glanced back at the group of runners. But no, he wasn’t there either. Thinking quickly, Badu swam over to where he last saw Kofi. There was splashing in the water, but he couldn’t see who it was! All the water had brought dirt to the surface and make it hard to see. An arm came out of the water, Badu grabbed it and started pulling the person to the bank, but he was heavy. He pulled as hard as he possibly could. Finally, Kofi’s head bobbed above water. “Paddle your legs Kofi!” Together the two boys managed to get him out of the water. The two boys panted for a minute before catching their breath. “Wow! Thank you, Badu!” Kofi said Badu was too shocked to reply, their teachers came running over after seeing the chaos from the other side of the lake. “What happened? Did Badu pull you in?” They asked. “No! He saved me, I had heatstroke, I fainted and woke up when he was pulling me out, he saved my life!” They started to fuss over them, Badu had never heard so many nice things said about him before. His swimming had saved Kofi’s life. Kofi turned to him “You’re a hero!” Badu’s mother was right - his differences weren’t bad. Instead of being envious of other people’s abilities, he could work on his own, and make his own version of success.