Long ago, there lived an Ashanti man named Abu. Like the rest of his people, Abu often found it difficult to raise enough food to last the entire year.

One day, Abu saw a traveler from a far-off land, and this man carried with him a yam. "What a wonderful thing!" Abu thought. "If we had yams, then we would not need to fear famine."

So Abu set off in search of the land where yams grew. He traveled far, encountering many new people, but at long last he found fields of yams.

Abu went to the king. "The people in my land are hungry," Abu said. "If you were to give us yams to grow, then we would not suffer from famine. It would be a great kindness."

"I will consider your request," the king said, and made Abu his guest. After several days, the king called for him.

"I have thought about what you said," the king told Abu. "I am sorry that your people suffer, but I must think of my own people, too. If your people grow strong, then they may become a threat to us."

"That will not happen," Abu promised. "My people are peaceful. And besides, well-fed people are happy, and not so likely to go to war as those made desperate by hunger."

"What you say may be true, but I still risk much if I feed your people," the king answered. "If you will give me a man as a hostage, then I will give you yams."

Overjoyed, Abu returned home. He went first to the house of his father. "Father," he said. "I have spoken to the king of the land where they have yams. If we give him a hostage, he will give us yams so that we may feed ourselves. You have many sons: will you offer one of them as a hostage?"

Abu's father refused. "Why should I give up one of my sons?" he asked. So Abu went to each of his brothers, and each of them also refused to give up one of their sons.

Sadly, Abu returned to the king, and told him that he could find no one willing to give up his son as a hostage. "Then I am sorry," the king said, "but I cannot give you yams."

Abu returned home again, but this time remembered his sister. She had only one son, and he had not spoken to her about the king's condition. So he went to her, and explained the situation.

"He is my only son; if I give him up, then I shall have no one," Abu's sister said. Abu turned to leave. "But the yams will make life better for all of our families. Take my son, so that we will never again know hunger."

So Abu gave his nephew to the king as a hostage, and the king gave Abu many yams to plant in the fields of the Ashanti. The yams grew, and were harvested, and the people rejoiced.

Abu took great pleasure watching his people eat. But he remembered the selfishness of his father and brothers. "If they cared so little for their people, I think that I do not want to have anything to do with them," Abu decided. "My sister is a far more worthy person."

And so, when Abu died, he left all of his possessions to his nephew, who had made it possible for the people of Ashanti to eat.

The Ashanti people admired Abu, and henceforth left their property to their sisters' sons, and so always remembered the gift Abu gave them.

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