Write a story to illustrate the saying: The devil makes work for idle hands.

Answer Details

A story that illustrates a saying must show, through its events, the truth of the saying. It need not repeat the proverb, though it may echo it at the end. The tale below shows how idleness led a boy into trouble.

An Idle Holiday

The long holiday stretched before Tunde like an endless afternoon. His parents had travelled to the village, leaving him in the care of an elderly aunt who slept for most of the day. With no lessons, no chores and no one to guide him, Tunde soon ran out of ways to fill his empty hours. It was then, as the old people say, that the devil began to find work for his idle hands.

At first the mischief was small. He and two neighbourhood boys, Sola and Musa, would lounge under the mango tree from morning till evening, doing nothing but boasting and complaining of boredom. Then Sola suggested that they could make some easy money. He knew a man who bought scrap metal, he said, and there was plenty of iron lying about if one knew where to look. Idle and eager for excitement, Tunde agreed without a second thought.

That night the three boys crept to a half-finished building at the edge of the street and began prying loose the metal rods and window frames. The thrill of the adventure blinded them to the danger. They had gathered a heavy load and were dragging it toward the gate when a torchlight suddenly flashed in their faces. It was the night watchman, and behind him stood two policemen on patrol.

The boys scattered, but Tunde, weighed down by the iron, was caught at once. He spent that night in the cold cell of the police station, weeping and trembling, until his aunt, roused from her sleep, came to plead for him. When his parents returned and heard the whole story, the shame on their faces cut him more deeply than any punishment.

Tunde never forgot that holiday. He learned that an empty mind is a workshop for wickedness, and that a busy hand is a safe hand. From then on he filled his free time with reading, farming and useful chores, and he understood at last why the elders warn that the devil makes work for idle hands.