She bent down and touched the boxes. They were real and heavy.
Amara was confused. She carried the boxes inside her hut and placed them in a corner.
She could not sleep that night, thinking about the boxes. Who had dropped them? Who did they belong to? Should she keep them?
She decided to wait for the owner to come and ask for them.
But days passed and no one came.
One day, Amara opened the boxes and found that they were filled with gold, coral beads, and silver coins.
Amara secretly sold some of the golden beads, and with the money she bought a bigger house in the village. She bought new clothes for her children, and they began eating good food every day.
People in the village began to notice that Amara was looking beautiful. Her children looked healthy, and she was no longer wearing old clothes.
Amara became the wealthiest woman in the village.
But she never told anyone how she got the gold.
Every night she would sit outside under the moon and look in the direction of the river, smiling and praying for Nene and her baby.
She knew in her heart that it was Nene the mermaid who had left the gold boxes for her as a thank-you for saving her life and the life of her baby.
Amara taught her children always to help people in need and to show kindness to strangers.
And whenever someone in the village asked her, “Amara, how did you become so rich?” she would smile and say:
“Kindness always comes back.”
And that was how a poor woman who helped a pregnant mermaid became the wealthiest woman in the village.
