Patrick never did homework. "Too boring," he said. He played baseball and basketball and Nintendo instead. His teachers told him, "Patrick! Do your homework or you won't learn a thing." And it's true; sometimes he did feel like a ding-a-ling. But what could he do? He hated homework.
Then on St. Patrick's Day his cat was playing with a little doll and he grabbed it away. To his surprise it wasn't a doll at all, but a man of the tiniest size. He had a little wool shirt with old fashioned britches and a high tall hat much like a witch's. He yelled, "Save me! Don't give me back to that cat. I'll grant you a wish, I promise you that."
Patrick couldn't believe how lucky he was! Here was the answer to all of his problems. So he said, "Only if you do all my homework 'til the end of the semester, that's 35 days. If you do a good enough job, I could even get A's."
The little man's face wrinkled like a dishcloth thrown in the hamper. He kicked his legs and doubled his fists and he grimaced and scowled and pursed his lips, "Oh, am I cursed! But I'll do it."
And true to his word, that little elf began to do Patrick's homework. Except there was one glitch. The elf didn't always know what to do and he needed help. "Help me! Help me!" he'd say. And Patrick would have to help -- in whatever way.
"I don't know this word," the elf squeeked while reading Patrick's homework. "Get me a dictionary. No, what's even better. Look up the word and sound it out by each letter." When it came to math, Patrick was out of luck. "What are times tables?" the elf shrieked. "We elves never need that. And addition and subtraction and division and fractions? Here, sit down beside me, you simply must guide me."
Elves know nothing of human history, to them it's a mystery. So the little elf, already a shouter, just got louder "Go to the library, I need books. More and more books. And you can help me read them too."
As a matter of fact every day in every way that little elf was a nag! Patrick was working harder than ever and was it a drag! He was staying up nights, had never felt so weary, was going to school with his eyes puffed and bleary.
Finally the last day of school arrived and the elf was free to go. As for homework, there was no more, so he quietly and slyly slipped out the back door.
Patrick got his A's; his classmates were amazed; his teachers smiled and were full of praise. And his parents? They wondered what had happened to Patrick. He was now the model kid. Cleaned his room, did his chores, was cheerful, never rude, like he had developed a whole new attitude.
You see, in the end Patrick still thought he'd made that tiny man do all his homework. But I'll share a secret, just between you and me. It wasn't the elf; Patrick had done it himself!
by Storie-Jean Agapith Illustrated by Michael S. Weber
Mr. Coyote was getting very old and had to be more careful for his own safety. He had been walking for hours and hours through a beautiful valley when he came upon a large tree. Mr. Coyote was very tired and wanted to rest but he also needed to be safe. He kindly asked the tree, "Please open up so I can rest safely in your care".
The tree opened up so that Mr. Coyote could go inside to rest, then it closed to keep him safe. Mr. Coyote slept for hours. When he woke up he could not remember what he had said to make the tree open. He said, "Let me out Mr. Tree", but nothing happened. He said, "Please let me out now!" and again nothing happened. The tree didn’t even creak. Mr. Coyote knocked on the tree, but it would not open up. Mr. Tree was upset with Mr. Coyote for not having said please the first time he spoke to the tree! It let him rest a little longer.
Because the birds heard Mr. Coyote banging on the inside of the tree, they came down to peck on the tree to help get him out. But they were too small and the tree was just too big! Finally Mr. Woodpecker came down and pecked a hole in the tree. Although it was a very small hole, it caused Mr. Woodpecker to get a bent beak! This meant he couldn’t peck on the tree any more. Mr. Coyote put one hand out the hole but he could not fit through. He then tried his leg but still he could not fit through. He had to come up with a way to escape since Mr. Woodpecker's beak was now bent. Mr. Coyote knew there had to be a way. "Ah, come on you old ugly tree," he cried, "Just let me out!" But still nothing happened, just the silence around him.
Mr. Coyote decided to take off his arms one at a time and put them through the small hole. He then put his legs through one at a time by taking them off. He put his body through by taking it off. This was working out fine. I’ll show you Mr. Tree, you can’t keep me in here, he thought. Next Mr. Coyote tried to put his head through the hole, but it was too big. His ears were in the way. So he took off his ears and put them through the hole. He again tried his head, but his eyes were too big. Mr. Coyote took his eyes off and put them through the hole.
Mr. Raven saw the eyes and flew down to take them. Then Mr. Raven flew back up high in the tree with Mr. Coyote's eyes. They were such beautiful eyes, blue like the sky, and would be a treasure to put in his hiding spot!
Mr. Coyote finally put his head through the hole. He then put himself back together. One piece at a time he became a whole coyote again. But after he put his head on he could not find his eyes. He was feeling all over. His ears were listening to hear him touch his eyes, but not a sound could be heard from his eyes. His fingers were being careful while feeling around, but still no eyes were found.
Mr. Coyote knew he could not let the animals know he was blind. He felt his way to a wild rose bush; he then put two rose petals in for his eyes. This would cover the blindness for a little while, but he would have to keep looking for his eyes. Surely they were close by!
Along came Mr. Snail who saw Mr. Coyote with the rose petals in his eyes. He asked Mr. Coyote, "Why do you have those rose petals in your eyes?" Mr. Coyote said, "Because they are very beautiful. They have lovely colors. You can try them if you want and I will hold your eyes."
Mr. Snail took off his eyes. He put them into Mr. Coyote’s hands and tried the rose petals in his eyes. Then Mr. Coyote put Mr. Snail's eyes into his head and ran off with his long tail wagging. To this day Mr. Snail is crawling with his head down looking for his eyes. And all coyotes have brown eyes instead of blue; this is because Mr. Coyote was naughty when he took Mr. Snail’s eyes. And Mr. Raven still has those beautiful blue eyes in his secret hiding place, but he cannot return them because the secret hiding place was so secret not even Mr. Raven can find it!
A religious teacher wanted to test Jesus. “What must I do to have eternal life?” he asked. Jesus answered, “What is written in the Scriptures?”The teacher replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbours as much as you love yourself.’” Jesus said, “You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life.”
But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, “Who are my neighbours?” In reply Jesus told him the following story:As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead.
A priest from the same town was going down the same road, but when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. Later a temple helper came by. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side.
A stranger from Samaria then came along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him and went over to him. He cleaned his wounds and bandaged them. He put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn. He gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, "Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return."
Then Jesus asked, "Which one of these three people was a real neighbour to the man who was beaten up by robbers?" The teacher answered, "The one who showed pity." Jesus said, "Go and do the same!"
A king had trouble with his quarrelsome ministers. They would argue so much that almost nothing was decided. Each minister claimed that he alone was right and everyone else was wrong.
Finally, the king came up with a plan. He organised a special public festival and led his royal elephant into the centre of a stadium. Following the elephant came seven men, who had been blind since birth.
The King took the hand of the first blind man, helped him feel the elephant’s trunk and told him, "This is an elephant."
He then helped the rest of the men feel a different part of the elephant’s body, telling each one the same thing. Then he returned to the first blind man and asked him to say out loud what an elephant was.
"In my expert opinion," said the first blind man, feeling the trunk, "An ‘elephant’ is a species of snake, genus Python asiaticus."
"What twittering twaddle!" exclaimed the second blind man, feeling a tusk, "an ‘elephant’ is much too solid to be a snake. In fact, and I am never wrong, it is a farmer’s plough."
"Don’t be ridiculous!" jeered the third blind man, feeling an ear. "An ‘elephant’ is a palm-leaf fan."
"You idiots!" laughed the fourth blind man, feeling the head. "An ‘elephant’ is obviously a large water jar."
"Absolutely impossible!" shouted the fifth blind man, feeling the torso. "An ‘elephant’ is a huge rock."
"Bulldust!" shouted the sixth blind man, feeling a leg. "An ‘elephant’ is a tree trunk." "Twerps!" sneered the last blind man, feeling the tail. "An ‘elephant’ really is a kind of flywhisk. I know — I can feel it!"
"Rubbish! It’s a snake." "Can’t be! It’s a jar." "No way! It’s a …" and the blind men started arguing so heatedly, and all at the same time, they produced one long yell. Each one was fighting for what he thought was the truth.
While the King’s soldiers separated them, the crowd in the stadium mocked the silent, shamefaced ministers. Everyone understood the king’s lesson.
Instead of blind faith, if the blind men had combined their experience, they would have realised that an elephant is something like a huge rock standing on four stout tree trunks. At its rear end is a flywhisk and on the front, a large water jar. At the sides of the jar are two palm-leaf fans, with two ploughs towards the bottom and a long python in the middle! That would not be such a bad description of an elephant, for someone who will never see one.
An old man was visiting a city for the first time in his life. He had grown up in a village, and was now enjoying his first visit to his children’s modern homes.
One day in the city, the old man heard a sound that stung his ears. He had never heard such an awful noise in his quiet mountain village. He insisted on finding its cause. Following the grating sound back to its source, he found a small boy practicing on a violin. ‘SCREECH! SCRAPE!’ came the notes from the groaning violin. When his son explained that the instrument was a ‘violin’, the old man decided he never wanted to hear such a horrible thing again.
The next day, in another part of the city, the old man heard a sound that caressed his aged ears. He had never heard such an enchanting melody in his mountain valley. Following the delightful sound back to its source, he found a lady, a maestro — an accomplished musician, performing on a violin.
The old man realised, "That terrible sound I heard yesterday was neither the fault of the violin, nor of the boy. It was just that the young man has yet to learn his instrument well." The old man thought, "It is the same with religion. When we dislike someone of a different religion, it is wrong to say his religion is bad.
Perhaps it is because some people have not yet understood how to practice their religion." The third day, the old man heard another sound that was even more pleasant and soothing to his ears than that of the maestro on her violin. It was the sound of a large orchestra playing a symphony!
Every member of the orchestra was a maestro of his or her own instrument. Also, every member had learned how to play together in harmony with the other musicians.“It should be the same with religion,” the old man dreamed. “Having learnt our own religion well, we should go further and learn to live with other religions in harmony together! The sound of people living in harmony would be the most beautiful sound in the world!”
Seven monks lived in a cave. There was the head monk, his brother and his best friend. The fourth monk — well, he could not get along with the head monk. The fifth monk in the group was a very old monk — so old, he was expected to die at any time. The sixth monk was sick — so ill in fact that he too could die at any time. And the last monk, the seventh, was a useless monk. He always snored when he was supposed to be meditating, he could not remember his chanting, and even when he did — he would chant off key. But the others tolerated him and thanked him for teaching them patience.One day a gang of bandits discovered the cave. It was so well hidden that they wanted to take it over as their own base. They decided to kill the monks so that their secret hideout would never be revealed.
The head monk managed to persuade the gang of bandits to let the monks go — all except one, who would be killed as a warning to the other monks not to let anyone know the location of the cave! That was the best the head monk could do. Then, the head monk was left alone to make the awful decision of who should die so that the others could go free. However, he was unable to make the choice.As a good Buddhist, he loved all the monks equally: his brother, his best friend, his enemy, the old monk, the sick monk, and even the dear old useless monk. He understood the words: ‘The Door of my Heart will Always be Open to You, Whatever You Do, Whoever You Are.’ And most importantly, his love for others was equal to his love for himself. He could not choose between himself and the others.The head monk described the meaning of love to the bandits. It means forgiveness. It is stepping free from the prison of guilt; it is being at peace with oneself. Only then can one meet sublime love. When we forgive our mistakes, we are at peace with ourselves.
Only when we love ourselves in such a way can we know what it means to really love all equally.
The bandits were so impressed and inspired that not only did they let the monks live, they became monks themselves! Together with the other monks they found the secret to happiness in life.
Based on a story told by Giselle Birch, aged 5 years
A little girl and her grandmother went to the market to do some shopping. An old man called out, "Flower seeds for just 10 cents!" The little girl, who loved flowers, paid for the seeds with her pocket money and planted her seeds in her grandmother’s garden.
When spring came she waited for the little green shoots to appear, but they did not. The following spring too, nothing grew. The little girl felt disappointed and sad. The next time she saw the old man at the market, she said, "Those seeds you sold me never sprouted!" The old man replied, "Those are no ordinary seeds. When children from different countries unite like the flowers of a garden, the seeds will grow into the loveliest flowers you have ever seen!"
The little girl remembered that her great-grandfather was a Bahá’í and had met Abdu’l-Bahá many years before in Haifa. Abdu’l-Bahá said we are all the flowers of one garden and all the leaves of one tree, and that the reason why each flower is a different colour and size and shape and scent is because it makes a garden more beautiful. He said that all the flowers belong to One Garden and One Gardener. God. The little girl went to school. She made friends with children from places like India, China, Africa, Arabia, America and many other countries. On her birthday she invited them to a party. Everyone had such fun at the party, and when it was time to go home, a surprise was in store!
The seeds the little girl had bought had begun to grow and now the flowers bloomed. They were in all the splendid colours of a rainbow. Each was of a different shape and smelled so sweet.The little girl turned to her friends, “All of you have made it possible. Thank you! This is the best birthday present I have ever had!”
