I know its true, because he said so.....

I am definitely not a story teller because a story is just what it says, a story.
However I have to share with you some "history", as a young boy who regularly heard this piece of "history", there were no way to check the historical accuracy of the "facts", and when asked the narrator always rebuked with "Hoekom sal ek nou lieg!(Why would I lie!)".
So this piece if history of my family goes as follows;

My Grandfather grew up on a farm Melkhoutsfontein near Gouritzriver, and they were 17 brothers and sisters, yes those were the days of hard work, and as I can judge from the number of children, lots of fun (although Oupa would have never admitted to that!).

Oupa was a young boy when his mother was in the "ander tyd" (or as we call it today pregnant). Times were  tough and Doctors where few and far between, unlike today where you cannot swing a cat and hit at least 10 of them. In those days the doctors came by the house, visited the patient and told them what was wrong without the use of X-rays, blood tests, sonars, CT Scans, seance sessions or whatever they use today. Thus near the due date the doctor told the old people that the baby bridged and she should go to the hospital for the birth.
As I (Oupa) mentioned, times where tough, they had to pee in the bath for some warm water, so when the time came to go to hospital they hitched their 12 year old horse to a borrowed cart, only to find that they didn't have any leather straps (rieme) to steer the horse with, eventually one of the brothers remembered where he saw some old rieme, and came back with 4 pieces of dry old leather that looked like bone (hard, white and brittle!).
Oupa as one of the youngest was told to go with them as the older children had to keep working on the farm, as they didn't know how they were going to pay for the medical expenses.
So without fanfare they got onto the old rickety cart, but before his father ( Great Grandfather) got on, he whispered something into the horses ear, and you could see the tears forming in the eyes of the horse, how it changed form being a "soon-to-be-pot-of-glue" to a thoroughbred!
According to Oupa, his father was a great motivator, not only did he have a vocabulary that would make the toughest sailor blush, but he also had the demeanor that said " I WILL CASH THE CHEQUES I WRITE!".

As they turned onto the road the horse began to run, he ran with all he had, when became tired, the old man just shouted "Onthou!".
The horse ran so fast that he had to pull the reins with all his might to ensure that the horse doesn't run out of the harness! He pulled so hard that the blood started to drip from that old, white, brittle pieces of leather!
Now, Oupa, explained, we all know what happens to wet "rieme", they stretch, the more his father pulled to take up the slack in the blood-soaked reins, the harder the horse worked, and the faster it ran! When they went past the modern day location of MossGas, they had such a load of new leather on the cart that there was hardly any place for him to sit, they were making good time, and when they came into Mossel Bay, it looked like they were on their way to the market to sell the leather straps!
But then the bad luck struck!, one of the wheels came off just as they were entering "Park Side West" (a very steep downhill into Mossel Bay), the wheel sped past them, but fortunately all the leather straps on the cart balanced it so it went down on 3 wheels!
They eventually reached the hospital and the baby was born without any complications.

They had such a load of fresh leather straps on the cart, that upon selling it, it payed for the the birth, fixing the wheel, they also bought new clothes for everyone and enough food for a year! Four ox wagons had to take the groceries to the farm!

And the horse......
Well according to Oupa, when he got back to the farm and told his brothers and sisters how the horse ran, they told him that they don't own a horse! only a mule!
That mule still worked for another 25 years on the farm, everyday, from sunrise to sunset, and when it was his time to go, it is said that he even dug his own grave!

What Great Grandfather said to the mule on that day is forever lost to history, but whatever it was the mule must have believed it.
How is that for motivation.

Well till next time.