To Be Full
One day, a handsome prince came to the village garden
from the town many miles away. As he esteemed a higher quality of life, he wanted
more of everything. He ate more, he
slept more, he enjoyed more. He went to
the village to see what he could get.
“But prince, don’t you have your own garden? We need to
be careful, or we shall all die in the winter, cold and with bellies begging,”
the squirrel said.
“I am a prince,” the stranger said. “I deserve more
bounty for the protection of these lands. Without me, the big bad wolf will eat
you for supper when it gets cold. You will
be just fine. Would a prince lie?” He
asked, thinking they were simpletons. He
fooled many people. Their aching arms
would snap, and they would cry into the wind.
The dark winter settled onto the small village. Everything part of the land was hungry. The animals turned on each other, became as
cold as frost.
“The squirrel is the problem. He fell for the devil’s tricks and believed
we would have survived had we fought back and not let him in our village. I think the squirrel should be punished. He can go ask the prince for the food he took when
the weather was nice and pleasant.
The little squirrel packed a rucksack with everything but
food. Every step bit his feet and hands. Inside, his heart beat, and he knew he couldn’t
go back and would have to suffer for the nativity he’d been a part of. He cursed
the prince and his beauty, the wonderful horse that pranced and commanded
authority without thinking about the villagers.
After some time, the squirrel made it to the town where
the prince lived. The town glittered
with gold and silver, many gems in the windows of the humans. He heard laughter and joy. Children unwrapped
gifts and ate cookies.
“I wish my village could celebrate a seasonal holiday such
as this.”
“Halt,” a man in a heavy cult said to him.
“What business do you have in this town?” The guard
asked.
At first, the squirrel shook in fear. He saw the guard’s
strong sword waiting to slice him open.
“Um, a prince took all of our food and now we are
starving. I need to help my fellow
villagers, or we will keep turning on each other and die in the bitter rain.
The guard thought for a minute, and he said, “Well, the
prince needs more than most to keep this town happy and prosperous. Why would you want to make these good folks
suffer a cruel fate?”
A wind caused to squirrel’s to water, “I have to feed the
village.”
An old grandma came out to reason with the guard and the squirrel.
She possessed a keen sense of justice.
“I sense that we’ve brought unhappiness to secure our own
comfort,” she remarked. She bent down
and petted the poor squirrel with her gentle hands.
Just then the prince came to the small group.
“Prince, is it true that you took all of the village’s
food?” The old woman asked.
“Yes, I wanted my town to prosper and be happy.”
“But we didn’t grow our own food, did we? How can you be
a noble prince?” asked the old woman.
“I must be noble.
I allowed arrogance in my tongue.”
“Well, then I think we can solve this problem.” The old
woman ordered several carriages to go to the village with half the food the others
were enjoying.
The sad village hardly stood when they arrived. The rats and the birds fought each other, a
whirl of angry whipping.
“Villagers, we have brought you half of what we took and
will set up our own garden. No one needs
to starve, not even a tiny mouse, the old woman said.
The prince had a depressed look in his eyes, for he had been
taught that he was better than others. That wasn’t noble. He thought that primitive
animals were beneath him. After seeing
what hunger and poverty did to animals, he decided to spend the rest of his
life fighting the ills of hunger and arrogance.
No comments:
Post a Comment