The Natural Garden

    

There was once a King who had a great palace with wonderful gardens. In those gardens there lived thousands of creatures from hundreds of different species. They were of great variety and colour, and they turned that place into a kind of paradise that everyone could enjoy.

There was only one thing in those gardens that the King disliked: near the centre stood the remains of what had been, centuries ago, a huge tree, but that now was withered and dry, and detracted from the colour and beauty of its surroundings. This bothered the King so much that he finally ordered it to be cut down and replaced by a beautiful series of fountains.

Some time later, a wise noble was visiting the King at his palace. He whispered in the King’s ear:

-“Majesty, you are the wisest of men. Everywhere one hears talk of the beauty of these gardens and the multitude of creatures that populate them. But during the time I’ve spent here, I’ve hardly seen anything other than this fountain and just a few small birds… What a deception!”

The King, who never tried to deceive anyone, found, to his horror, that what the noble had told him was true. They had spent so many months admiring the fountains that they hadn’t realised that hardly any animals remained in the gardens. Without wasting time he sent for the court’s experts and advisers. The King had to listen to many lies, inventions and assumptions, but nothing could explain what had happened. Not even the great reward offered by the King managed to recuperate the royal gardens’ former splendour.

Many years later, a young man presented himself to the King, assuring him that he could explain what had happened, and how the animals could be returned.

-“What happened with your garden is that there just wasn’t enough poo, your majesty. Particularly moth poo.”

All those present laughed at the young man’s joke. The guards got ready to throw him out, but the King stopped them.

-“I want to hear what you have to say. From the thousand lies I’ve heard, none have begun like that.”

The young man continued, very serious, and started explaining how the gardens’ big animals fed mainly on the little brightly-coloured birds, who owed their appearance to their own food, composed of colourful worms, who in turn fed on various rare species of plants and flowers that could only grown in that part of the World, just so long as there was enough moth poo for them... and so he continued, telling how the moths were the basis of much food for many other birds, whose poo encouraged the appearance of new species of plants that fed other insects and animals, and which were, in turn, vital to the existence of other species... And the young man would have kept speaking without pause if the King had not shouted.

-“Enough! And can you tell me how you know all these things, being so young?”

asked the King.

-“Well, because now all from your garden are at my house. Before I was born my father collected that old tree you had torn out from the middle of the garden, and he planted it in our garden. Since then, every spring, from out of that tree come thousands and thousands of moths. With time, the moths attracted the birds, and new plants and trees grew, providing food for other animals that, in turn, provided food for others… And now, my father's old place is filled with life and colour. All thanks to the moths from the big old tree."

-“Excellent!”

exclaimed the King,

-“Now I’ll be able to recover my gardens. And you, I’ll make you rich. Rest assured that within a week everything will be ready. Use as many men as you like.”

-“Your Majesty, I’m afraid that cannot be,”

said the young man,

-“If you like I can try to recreate the gardens, but you will not live to see it. It will take many years for the natural balance to reestablish itself. With great good fortune perhaps I, when I'm old, will see it completed. Things like these do not depend on how many men work on them.”

The face of the old King was sad and pensive, understanding how delicate was the balance of nature, and how careless it had been to break it so happily. But he so loved those gardens and those creatures that he decided to build a huge palace next to the young man’s land. And with thousands of men working on the construction, he managed to see the palace finished in much less time than would have been necessary to reestablish the balance of nature of that garden in any other place.

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Unknown

1:36 AM

The Great Wild Car Race

  

In a far away land there was once a type of small wild car that would drive freely around the countryside. They didn’t need motorways or gasoline, since all they needed to be able to move was good thoughts and desires – a rather original idea of their eccentric inventor.

Those cars became really famous, and the wild car races were everyone's favourite pastime. Every boy dreamt about driving one, as their light weight and their honesty and sincerity made them ideal drivers. And as it was difficult to find light children with such good hearts that they could maintain good thoughts throughout an entire race, there were often tests to discover new talent, during which every boy would have a unique opportunity to demonstrate his ability with the wild cars.

So, one day, the testing team arrived at the small town where Nicky lived. Nicky was a good kid who, like many others, didn't sleep that night, while queueing up, waiting his turn to drive one of the cars. During the wait, many boys rehearsed and practiced their good wishes and thoughts, but as soon as the gates were opened, a great lot of elbowing and pushing revealed that not all were as good as they appeared. However, the organisers expected this kind of thing, and after a few simple tests such as thanking someone for giving you a chocolate, helping to prepare the races, and respectfully attending to a rather annoying little old lady, there was only a small group of really good children left. Nicky was among them.

So, those children took turns to get into the cars and do a few laps of the circuit. Nicky would go last, but it didn’t bother him much, since he enjoyed seeing up close how the cars accelerated. When his turn came, his heart was beating ten to the dozen. Due to the excitement, he could hardly run, and so was about the last to get into his car. He was so happy, that he was a little late in realising that there was one last boy yet to get into his car; a boy who walked using crutches, and who hadn’t been able to reach the car earlier. Nicky could hear the head of testing say:

-“I’m very sorry, my boy, there are no cars left, and this is the last test of the day. The cars have to be rested soon. Come on, you’ll get your opportunity some other day…”

Seeing the shine of excitement disappear from that boy’s face, and witnessing his deep sadness, Nicky took a deep breath, got out of his car and said:

-“It’s OK, he can have my car.”

The engine of that car roared like never before, while the injured boy got in, filled with joy. Nicky was happy at what he had done, though a little bit disappointed. But before setting off, the other boy saw the hint of sadness in Nicky’s face and, grateful to him, reached out his hand, saying:

-“Get in. We’ll go together, even though it’ll make us a bit slower.”

Nicky leapt in. The two happily embraced, but they hardly managed to do anything else. Their car thundered like a rocket, and made off at the speed of light!

That race broke all known records, and during that season Nicky and his friend won every competition they entered, becoming the idols of all, spreading their friendship and good wishes to every corner of the world.

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Unknown

2:02 AM

The Burger who didn’t want to be junk food

   

Once upon a time there was a burger who had many lives. Each day she would wake up in the burger bar, and patiently wait her turn to be cooked by the chefs, before being served to the customers. While being eaten, she would do everything possible to make herself really delicious, and with the customer’s final bite she would feel like the lights had gone out and she had simply fallen asleep. The next day the whole process would repeat itself.

The little burger could have continued quietly living this way for many years if it hadn’t been for the fact that, one day, while she was waiting her turn at the cooking range, she heard one of the customers referring to her as “junk food”. And, boy, did this make her angry! She was so furious that she almost spontaneously combusted.

From then on she realised that many people used that term about her and her sisters. And after listening closely to any radio or television program about junk food or healthy food, she arrived at a horrifying conclusion: it was true, she was “junk food”.

Now she understood why most of her favourite customers were now much fatter than they had been when she first met them, and why those who came most often didn’t look too well. The burger felt terrible; all this was her fault! So she tried to find some solution, some way they could shake off that terrible name.

And then she hit on it. Whenever she saw one of the kids who visited almost daily, she would choose the best place to be chosen, and would wait to be served. Once he was with the child, and the important moment wasn’t far off – the first bite - the burger would concentrate as much as she could and... nothing happened. The child sank their teeth into the burger and chewed the mouthful just as usual. Then along came another bite, with the burger concentrating as before, but everything happened just as before…
Several more bites and the burger was about to give up, when she heard the child’s voice:

-"Blimey, how strange! This burger doesn't taste of anything."

That was just the start of what turned out to be a perfect plan. The burger convinced all her sisters not to have any flavour whenever they were with a customer that visited too often, in return for being even more tasty when the customer came only rarely.

In this way they began to see fewer chubby, unhealthy-looking faces in the restaurant, and many of their old familiar friends started looking much better, while getting to eat much tastier burgers.

And these burgers became much more popular from then on, because, everywhere, it's more enjoyable to taste something after a while of not having had it.

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Unknown

1:59 AM

The Island of Two Sides

   

The Mokoko tribe lived on the wrong side of the island of two faces. The two sides, separated by a great cliff, were like night and day. The good side was watered by rivers and was filled with trees, flowers, birds and easy and abundant food, while on the wrong side there was hardly any water or plants, and wild beasts crowded together. The Mokoko had the misfortune of having always lived there, with no way to cross to the other side. Their life was hard and difficult: they hardly had food and drink for everyone and they lived in permanent terror of the beasts, who would regularly come and eat some tribe member.

Legend told that some of their ancestors had been able to cross with just the help of a small pole, but for many years not a single tree had grown that would be strong enough to make such a pole, so few Mokoko believed this was possible, and they had become accustomed and resigned to their difficult, resigned life, suffering hunger and dreaming of not ending up as some peckish beast's dinner.

But nature had it that, precisely along the edge of the cliff separating the two sides of the island, a skinny but strong tree grew, with which they could build two poles. The feeling of anticipation was enormous and there was no doubt among the tribe as to whom they would choose to use the poles: the great chief and the witch doctor.

But when the two of them were given their opportunity to make the jump, they felt so afraid that they didn't dared to: they thought that the pole could break, or it would not be long enough, or that something would go wrong during the jump ... and they put so much energy into these thoughts that the resulting fear caused them to give in. And when they saw that this could lead them to being teased and taunted, they decided to invent some old stories and legends about failed jumps to the other side. And they told so many of these tales and they spread so much that there was no Mokoko who did not know how reckless and foolish you would have to be to even attempt the jump. And there lay the poles, available to anyone wanting to use them, but abandoned by all, because taking up one of these poles had become, by dint of repetition, the most unbecoming thing a Mokoko could do. It was a betrayal of the values of suffering and resistance which so distinguished the tribe.

But into that tribe were born Naru and Ariki, a pair of young hearts truly wanting a different life and, encouraged by the strength of their love, one day decided to take up the poles. Nobody stopped them, but everyone did try to discourage them, trying to convincing them of the dangers of jumping, using a thousand explanations.

-"And what if what they say is true?"

wondered the young Naru.

-"Don’t' worry. Why do the talk so much about a leap they've never done? I too am a bit scared, but it doesn't look so difficult,"

replied Ariki, ever determined.

-"But if it goes wrong, it would be a terrible end,"

continued Naru, undecided.

-"Perhaps the jump will go badly, and perhaps not. But staying forever on this side of the island surely won't work out well either. Do you know of anyone whose death did not come from being either eaten by the wild beasts or from famine? That too is a terrible end, although it still seems far away to us."

-"You're right, Ariki. And if we wait much longer we won't have the strength to make the leap ... Let's do it tomorrow."

And on the next day, Naru and Ariki jumped to the good side of the island. When taking up the poles, taking their run up, while feeling their desire, the fear hardly allowed them to breathe. And while flying through the air, helpless and without support, they felt that something surely must have gone wrong and certain death awaited them. But when they landed on the other side of the island and happily hugged each other, they thought the jump really hadn't been so bad after all.

And as they ran away to discover their new life, behind them they could hear, like a whispering choir:

-"It was just luck."

-"Well… maybe tomorrow."

-"What a terrible jump! Had it not been for the pole ..."

And Naru and Ariki understood why so few people took the leap: because on the bad side of the island you only ever heard the resigned voices of people without dreams, people filled with fear and despair, people who would never jump ...

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Unknown

1:57 AM

Perfect Justice

 

Pancho had met his friend, Zero-Zero, in an interplanetary chat; and, as soon as he could, he booked a space flight to go and visit him. But while Zero-Zero was showing him the wonders of his planet, Pancho tripped over and bumped his head on a sphere that was lying by the path. After the impact, the sphere opened up, and from out of it came a little man. The little man had an enormous bruise on his head, and was hopping mad.

Zero-Zero was scared, so much so that he could hardly speak. And before Pancho could ask forgiveness, two enormous, uniformed robots turned up. They took out a few small devices and scanned the whole area. When they had finished this, from out of one of the devices their emerged a small metal card that one of the robots presented to the little man. Without a word they grabbed Pancho and the little man and whisked them away at top speed.

Before he knew it, Pancho was locked up inside a large sphere, with the little man and a very serious-looking robot dressed in a black toga. Before knowing what was going on, he heard the robot say: “go ahead”. Without hesitation the little man then gave him a lusty blow to the head. After this, the robot took out another device, checked Pancho’s throbbing head, and finally issued him with a small metal card.

-“Too hard. It is now your turn. Do not exceed what is stamped on the card.”

Pancho had no idea what was happening. He looked around him. Through the transparent walls he could see numerous other spheres, each one containing a robot dressed in a toga, along with people hitting and pushing each other, clutching little metal cards in their hands. The little man, standing before him, looked at Pancho with fear, and the robot remained expectantly at their side.

-“You may hit him. Remember, no more than on the card,”

continued the robot.

Pancho was hesitant. The robot in the toga impatiently explained:

-“This is a process of perfect justice. You must not worry about anything. Both of you will receive exactly the same harm that you have dished out. If one of you exceeds the limit you will receive another card with the exact value required for everything to be equalised."

Perfect justice? That sounded very nice. No one could come out worse than anyone else, and everyone would suffer what they had made others suffer. Pancho was surprised at how advanced they were on this planet. He was so keen to remark on it to Zero-Zero that he ran towards the door.

-“You may not leave,”

said the robot, blocking his way,

-“You must complete the process, you must spend the points on your card.”

Pancho was pensive. He had no desire to hit that poor little man any further, even though it was true that the little guy had really whacked him one…

-“It’s fine. I forgive him,”

he said, finally.
-“No,”

repeated the robot,

“you must use the points on your card. This is a process of perfect justice."

What a pain! How could it be impossible to forgive someone? Pancho began to feel annoyed at this rather snooty robot, so he took his card, tore it in two, and said,

-“Look! Now there are no points left."

The robot appeared to break down. It started emitting whistling noises, lots of lights all over its body lit up, and it lost control of its movements. Just when it appeared that it was going to explode, the robot returned to normal, and quietly said:

-“It is correct. Now you may leave. Thank you for using the system of perfect justice.”

The door opened, but before he could greet the shocked Zero-Zero, Pancho had to remove the little man from himself, who was embracing him and thanking him as though Pancho had saved his life.

On leaving the sphere, Pancho began to understand. All around he could see perfect justice system users lain on camp beds and looking tired and exhausted. Zero-Zero explained that the main problem with the perfect justice system was that it was almost impossible to give out the exactly correct amount of harm, and the judgments and exchanges of blows would end up going on for days and days. So scared was everyone of ending up in the judgment process that many people lived isolated lives, inside small glass spheres, just like the little man Pancho had fallen on.

A few days later, Pancho returned home, but his name was never forgotten on that planet. Previously, no one had forgiven anyone anything, but thanks to him they had discovered that forgiveness is a necessary part of justice.

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Unknown

9:47 PM

The White Rose

  

In a garden filled with bushes, out from between a load of grass and weeds, there appeared, as if from nowhere, a white rose. It was as white as driven snow, its petals looked like velvet, and the morning dew shone from its leaves like resplendent crystals. The flower couldn’t see herself, so she had no idea how pretty she was. And so it was that she spent the few days of her life, until wilting set on, without knowing that all around her were amazed by her and her perfection: her perfume, the softness of her petals, her elegance. She didn’t realise that everyone who saw her spoke well of her. The weeds that surrounded her were fascinated by her beauty, and lived in a state of enchantment at her aroma and appearance.

One hot, sunny day, a girl was strolling through the garden, thinking about how many lovely things Mother Nature has given us, when she suddenly saw a white rose in a forgotten part of the garden. The rose was beginning to fade and wilt.

-“It’s days since it rained,”

she thought,

-“if the rose stays here till tomorrow it'll be totally withered. I’ll take it home and put it in the lovely vase I got as a present.”

And so she did. With all her love she put the wilting white rose in water, inside a lovely colourful glass vase, and placed it by the window.

-"I'll put it here,"

she thought,

-"so the flower can get some sun."

What the young girl didn’t realise was that the reflection from the window meant that, for the first time, the rose got to see herself and what she looked like.

-“Is that me?”

thought the rose. Little by little her drooping leaves began to rise, once again stretching up towards the sun, and, gradually, the rose recovered her former appearance. When she was totally back to her best she looked at her reflection and saw that she was indeed a beautiful flower. She thought

-"Wow! Till now I hadn’t realised who I was, how could I have been so blind?”

The rose came to realise she had spent her days without appreciating her beauty, unable to see herself, unable to know who she really was.

If you really want to know who you are, forget everything that’s around you, and just look into your heart.

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Unknown

1:18 AM