Thursday, January 14, 2016

Jake and The Milk Cow

A long time ago in a land far, far away (but curiously much like our own), there was a boy named Jake.

Jake and his mother lived in a cabin at the edge of the woods, and they were poor. They weren't so poor as to be starving, but they were poor enough to know they weren't far from it.

The only thing Jake had of value was a magic bean.

"One of these days," Jake would tell his mother, "I'm going to plant that bean, water it, and watch it grow tall to the sky. And who knows what good luck that will bring us?"

Jake's mother thought it a silly dream, not very practical, but since dreams didn't cost anything, she let him keep it.

Jake kept the magic bean in his pocket. He got it out sometimes, rolled it around in his hands, thumped it into the air and caught it, but he never got around to planting it. Oh, he talked about doing it, but he never did.

One morning, after eating a bowl of thin gruel that didn't quite ease their hunger pains, Jake's mother said, "Boy, I want you to go to town and buy us a milk cow so we can have milk and cheese."

"But Ma, we don't have any money to buy a milk cow."

"Then sell that magic bean you're always talking about," she said. "Surely a magic bean is worth a milk cow."

Jake protested.

"But Ma, one of these days I'm going to plant that bean, and it's going to grow to the sky, and I'm going to climb it into the clouds, and if there's a giant up there, I'm going to steal all his food and gold, and we'll never have to worry about starving or being poor ever again."

"That may be so," she said, "but we're close to starving now. So do as I say and go buy us a cow."

Back in those days, a boy didn't argue much with his mother, so with a heavy heart he travelled into town and did the practical thing: he traded his magic bean for a milk cow.

Jake and his mother were still poor, but at least they had milk and cheese with their gruel and they never starved.

As for the bean?

I'm sure the old farmer who traded his cow for Jake's magic bean never believed his wife was strong enough to throw a cast iron skillet so accurately.


MORAL: Some dreams don't seem practical but could grow to the sky if planted and nurtured.

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