Of mice, turnips and generosity

Stevie Krayer offers a personal reflection

by Stevie Krayer 18th August 2017

This is what I heard at Yearly Meeting Gathering: There was a village; a couple arrived from far away to live there. The villagers, like villagers everywhere, were suspicious of the incomers and kept their distance, but the couple had their dog, their cat and their mouse for company, and for many years they lived a quiet but comfortable life, for the husband was a skilled gardener and the wife a skilled cook.

One year there came a drought and a famine, and the villagers were hungry, for they were not skilled in gardening or farming. The old man, however, had managed despite the drought to grow plenty of vegetables, including a huge turnip. He resolved to pull it up and ask his wife to make her delicious turnip soup for the whole village. But he could not manage to pull it up by himself, so the woman helped him, to no avail; then the dog, the cat and, lastly, the mouse joined in – what a brave and altruistic mouse was that, who did not let his small size deter him and who overcame his great fear of the dog and the cat in order to help! Together they managed to pull up the turnip, the soup was made, and the villagers were moved and grateful at the couple’s generosity. They became friends and the old man taught them all he knew about sowing and planting, tending and harvesting, and the woman all she knew about cooking, so they never went hungry again…

There was a village; a couple arrived from far away to live there. They did not know anything about gardening, but after some reflection they cleared a patch of ground in their garden and then paused, uncertain how to proceed. The villagers, who, like villagers everywhere, were skilled at gardening and farming, and who had kept a polite but close eye on the efforts of the incomers from a distance, found it strange that anyone would leave a patch of land bare and unused. They started to bring the couple seeds and also seedlings that they had raised themselves. They taught them all they knew about sowing and planting, tending and harvesting, so that the newcomers would not go hungry when the winter came.

One of these villages is imaginary; one is real.

Comments

That’s a lovely story Stevie.  I think the second one is the real one!

By myriammadigan@outlook.com on 17th August 2017 - 11:56

They are both super stories -but the first is poetic and the second one real.

By Gordy on 17th August 2017 - 12:47

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