Week 4 Storytelling: The Virtue of Listening

A long time ago, in a village quite far away lived a simple beggar and his pet parrot. The beggar lived in a humble shack about ten miles outside of the small village and had been blind since his birth. His parrot was his eyes and the two of them had a bond that was stronger than any other force on Earth. The beggar was elderly; his skin sagged on his face and left his forehead with three distinct wrinkles. He had a shiny baldness to his head, but he had a wonderfully long white beard that flowed down to his weak knees. On his shoulder he held his parrot and in his hand he held a short wooden cane. Much like the elderly man the parrot too was growing older. He could no longer fly and spoke in short and sometimes inaudible squawks.

The elderly man knew much wisdom, but his words were not headed by young travelers. Everyday the man would sit on the side of the road that lead straight into town. He sat under a shady tree with a used pale bucket. Leaning against the bucket was a sign that read, “Alms for the poor.” As weary travelers came upon the old man he would try to strike up conversation. Some of the travelers would stop and listen to the elderly man while others would ignore him completely and continue on their path. If the travelers stopped to listen to the beggar, he would give them advice and if they did not stop he would give them no warning. 

“I know of the secrets this forest offers.” Said the beggar.

“Secrets... Secrets.” The man’s parrot would squawk.

"If you see a red haired mermaid sitting on the shore of a small lake just before the entrance of the town do not listen to her stories!” He warned the travelers, “she will try to lure you to her cave where she will devour your soul.” 

The knight and the mermaid, by Isobel Lilian Gloag, c. 1890

All the travelers who were kind enough to listen to his stories thought he was mad! Why would a mermaid want to eat a persons soul and besides mermaids don’t even exist. Travelers would continue on their way, but none would make it to the village. A humble merchant traveling to the village stopped to listen to the elderly beggar. He gave alms to the man and headed his words. When he came upon the mermaid he ran as fast as he could into town while plugging his ears. As he was running he saw the cave the old man described. There were bones stacked up high and the was a road that ran from the cave to the entrance of town. He also saw three burly men near the cave. Two of the were ripping belts and belongings off dead bodies while the other stood guard. When the merchant arrived at the towns entrance the towns-people were shocked. 

"How did you make it past the soul eating mermaid?” The village questioned. They were baffled by the simple merchant for not one person had made it to the village in over seventy-five years! When the merchant told his story of the elderly man and his advice the towns people became fiercely angry.

“You mean there is a man that was telling you to avoid the cat?” The Towns people asked.  

“Well... yeah and I’m sure glad he did. He has saved my life and my soul.” The merchant answered. 

To investigate the merchant’s claim a handful of towns people followed the road back to the elderly man, but instead they found nothing but a note. It read:

Dear Towns People. I know what you have been up to. 

I have finally found a man that is willing to listen. 

You will no longer be able to take the belonging of these murdered people,

just like my brother from seventy-five years ago.

I have sent out my parrot to alert the emperor of your wrong doing

and I now have someone who will believe me. 

Sincerely, The one who lived

Authors Notes: For this weeks Storytelling post I chose to retell the story of The Poisonous Trees from the reading unit Jataka Tales. TO start I will say that I was inspired in part by some Harry Potter Scenes. This story was about Buddha who was reincarnated as a merchant. He led a caravan of 500 into a forest. Before they entered the forest he warn the people traveling with him that there are fruit in the forest that are deadly if eaten. Before they eat any fruit they promised to first ask the merchant leader if it was safe to eat. Some of the caravan traveled ahead of the others and soon came upon a village. Before the entrance of the village there was a tree that appeared to be a mango tree. Before getting approval from the Buddha about weather or not the fruit was safe to eat some people ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha arrived he explain how the fruit was from the what-fruit tree. This tree’s fruit looked exactly like the fruit of a mango tree. The Buddha gave the men who ate the fruit a remedy to cure them. The villagers were outraged! They expected to find dead men and take their belongings. Instead they found the caravan of people. When they asked the merchant how he knew

Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).