In Masoyi village, there was a very clever girl called Nomusa. She lived with her grandmother, who was a maize farmer.Most of the people in the village could not read or write. They made their living from farming.

Nomusa liked attending school, and her grandmother was proud of her.Each day after school, her grandmother gave her chores on the farm.She had to chase the monkeys and birds that wanted to eat the crops.

Nomusa found it difficult to chase monkeys and birds all afternoon. She often did not have time to complete her schoolwork.Many children in the village missed school altogether because they had to work in the fields.

As time passed, Nomusa grew more and more tired of chasing birds and monkeys.“I have a good idea,” she thought.

Nomusa carefully tied two long sticks together. She dressed the sticks in her work clothes.She held the sticks upright and put her work hat on top.It was a scarecrow!

Nomusa put the scarecrow in the middle of the maize field.“This scarecrow will take my place while I do schoolwork. Grandmother will think I am in the field,” Nomusa smiled to herself.

Each day, she took her school bag to the field.She stayed in her school uniform and put her work clothes on the scarecrow.Then, she did her homework in the shade of a tree.

Days went by and Nomusa thought, “Grandmother will never find out about my clever plan.”Nomusa was happy and surprised at the same time.The monkeys and birds didn’t go into the maize field.

One afternoon, Nomusa’s grandmother went to the field to get fresh mealies.The field was very quiet. There were no monkeys or birds anywhere.Grandmother thought to herself, “Nomusa is doing a good job.”

Grandmother called out, “Nomusa! Nomusa! Where are you?”There was no response.Then she saw the scarecrow in the middle of the field, wearing Nomusa’s clothes!

When grandmother realised what Nomusa had done, she was proud of her granddaughter.She thought, “This is very clever. Nomusa doesn’t have to go into the field to chase the monkeys and birds away.”

Everyone in the village loved Nomusa’s clever idea. They all started using scarecrows on their farms.The scarecrows kept the monkeys and birds away from the fields.And the children could go to school instead of looking after crops.