* LONG POST THIS WEEK! This is a story I've been thinking about lately to remind me to be more thankful for what I have and where I am at - realizing that everyday is a gift. Thanks for reading! :)
The Magic Thread
This is an excerpt from the Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett.
Too often, people want what they want (or what they think
they want, which is usually "happiness" in one form
or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only
by learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with
the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.
"He that can have patience, can have what he will,"
Benjamin Franklin told us, and this French tale bears him out.
Once there was a widow who had
a son called Peter. He was a strong, able boy, but he did not
enjoy going to school and he was forever daydreaming.
"Peter, what are you dreaming about this time?" his
teacher would say to him.
"I'm thinking about what I'll be when I grow up,"
Peter replied.
"Be patient. There's plenty of time for that. Being grown
up isn't all fun, you know," his teacher said.
But Peter found it hard to enjoy whatever he was doing at the
moment, and was always hankering after the next thing. In winter
he longed for it to be summer again, and in summer he looked forward
to the skating, sledging, and warm fires of winter. At school
he would long for the day to be over so that he could go home,
and on Sunday nights he would sigh, "If only the holidays
would come." What he enjoyed most was playing with his friend
Liese. She was as good a companion as any boy, and no matter how
impatient Peter was, she never took offense. "When I grow
up, I shall marry Liese," Peter said to himself.
Often he wandered through the forest, dreaming of the future.
Sometimes he lay down on the soft forest floor in the warm sun,
his hands behind his head, staring up at the sky through the distant
treetops. One hot afternoon as he began to grow sleepy, he heard
someone calling his name. He opened his eyes and sat up. Standing
before him was an old woman. In her hand she held a silver ball,
from which dangled a silken golden thread.
"See what I have got here, Peter," she said, offering
the ball to him.
"What is it?" he asked curiously, touching the fine
golden thread.
"This is your life thread," the old woman replied.
"Do not touch it and time will pass normally. But if you
wish time to pass more quickly, you have only to pull the thread
a little way and an hour will pass like a second. But I warn you,
once the thread has been pulled out, it cannot be pushed back
in again. It will disappear like a puff of smoke. The ball is
for you. But if you accept my gift you must tell no one, or on
that very day you shall die. Now, say, do you want it?"
Peter seized the gift from her joyfully. It was just what he
wanted. He examined the silver ball. It was light and solid, made
of a single piece. The only flaw in it was the tiny hole from
which the bright thread hung. He put the ball in his pocket and
ran home. There, making sure that his mother was out, he examined
it again. The thread seemed to be creeping very slowly out of
the ball, so slowly that it was scarcely noticeable to the naked
eye. He longed to give it a quick tug, but dared not do so. Not
yet.
The following day at school, Peter sat daydreaming about what
he would do with his magic thread. The teacher scolded him for
not concentrating on his work. If only, he thought, it was time
to go home. Then he felt the silver ball in his pocket. If he
pulled out a tiny bit of thread, the day would be over. Very carefully
he took hold of it and tugged. Suddenly the teacher was telling
everyone to pack up their books and to leave the classroom in
an orderly fashion. Peter was overjoyed. He ran all the way home.
How easy life would be now! All his troubles were over. From that
day forth he began to pull the thread, just a little, every day.
One day, however, it occurred to him that it was stupid to
pull the thread just a little each day. If he gave it a harder
tug, school would be over altogether. Then he could start learning
a trade and marry Liese. So that night he gave the thread a hard
tug, and in the morning he awoke to find himself apprenticed to
a carpenter in town. He loved his new life, clambering about on
roofs and scaffolding, lifting and hammering great beams into
place that still smelled of the forest. But sometimes, when payday
seemed too far off, he gave the thread a little tug and suddenly
the week was drawing to a close and it was Friday night and he
had money in his pocket.
Liese had also come to town and was living with her aunt, who
taught her housekeeping. Peter began to grow impatient for the
day when they would be married. It was hard to live so near and
yet so far from her. He asked her when they could be married.
"In another year," she said. "Then I will have
learned how to be a capable wife."
Peter fingered the silver ball in his pocket.
"Well, the time will pass quickly enough," he said,
knowingly.
That night Peter could not sleep. He tossed and turned restlessly.
He took the magic ball from under his pillow. For a moment he
hesitated; then his impatience got the better of him, and he tugged
at the golden thread. In the morning he awoke to find that the
year was over and that
Liese had at last agreed to marry him.
Now Peter felt truly happy.
But before their wedding could take place, Peter received an
official-looking letter. He opened it in trepidation and read
that he was expected to report at the army barracks the following
week for two years' military service. He showed the letter to
Liese in despair.
"Well," she said, "there is nothing for it,
we shall just have to wait. But the time will pass quickly, you'll
see. There are so many things to do in preparation for our life
together."
Peter smiled bravely, knowing that two years would seem a lifetime
to him.
Once Peter had settled into life at the barracks, however,
he began to feel that it wasn't so bad after all. He quite enjoyed
being with all the other young men, and their duties were not
very arduous at first. He remembered the old woman's warning to
use the thread wisely and for a while refrained from pulling it.
But in time he grew restless again. Army life bored him with its
routine duties and harsh discipline. He began pulling the thread
to make the week go faster so that it would be Sunday again, or
to speed up the time until he was due for leave. And so the two
years passed almost as if they had been a dream.
Back home, Peter determined not to pull the thread again until
it was absolutely necessary.
After all, this was the best time
of his life, as everyone told him. He did not want it to be over
too quickly. He did, however, give the thread one or two very
small tugs, just to speed along the day of his marriage. He longed
to tell Liese his secret, but he knew that if he did he would
die.
On the day of his wedding, everyone, including Peter, was happy.
He could hardly wait to show Liese the house he had built for
her. At the wedding feast he glanced over at his mother. He noticed
for the first time how gray her hair had grown recently. She seemed
to be aging so quickly. Peter felt a pang of guilt that he had
pulled the thread so often. Henceforward he would be much more
sparing with it and only use it when it was strictly necessary.
A few months later Liese announced that she was going to have
a child. Peter was overjoyed and could hardly wait. When the child
was born, he felt that he could never want for anything again.
But whenever the child was ill or cried through the sleepless
night, he gave the thread a little tug, just so that the baby
might be well and happy again.
Times were hard. Business was bad and a government had come
to power that squeezed the people dry with taxes and would tolerate
no opposition. Anyone who became known as a troublemaker was thrown
into prison without trial and rumor was enough to condemn a man.
Peter had always been known as one who spoke his mind, and very
soon he was arrested and cast into jail. Luckily he had his magic
ball with him and he tugged very hard at the thread. The prison
walls dissolved before him and his enemies were scattered in the
huge explosion that burst forth like thunder. It was the war that
had been threatening, but it was over as quickly as a summer storm,
leaving behind it an exhausted peace. Peter found himself back
home with his family. But now he was a middle-aged man.
For a time things went well and Peter lived in relative contentment.
One day he looked at his magic ball and saw to his surprise that
the thread had turned from gold to silver. He looked in the mirror.
His hair was starting to turn gray and his face was lined where
before there had not been a wrinkle to be seen. He suddenly felt
afraid and determined to use the thread even more carefully than
before. Liese bore him more children and he seemed happy as the
head of his growing household. His stately manner often made people
think of him as some sort of benevolent ruler. He had an air of
authority as if he held the fate of others in his hands. He kept
his magic ball in a well-hidden place, safe from the curious eyes
of his children, knowing that if anyone were to discover it, it
would be fatal.
As the number of his children grew, so his house became more
overcrowded. He would have to extend it, but for that he needed
money. He had other worries too. His mother was looking older
and more tired every day. It was of no use to pull the magic thread
because that would only hasten her approaching death. All too
soon she died, and as Peter stood at her graveside, he wondered
how it was that life passed so quickly, even without pulling the
magic thread.
One night as he lay in bed, kept awake by his worries, he thought
how much easier life would be if all his children were grown up
and launched upon their careers in life. He gave the thread a
mighty tug, and the following day he awoke to find that his children
had all left home for jobs in different parts of the country,
and that he and his wife were alone. His hair was almost white
now and often his back and limbs ached as he climbed the ladder
or lifted a heavy beam into place. Liese too was getting old and
she was often ill. He couldn't bear to see her suffer, so that
more and more he resorted to pulling at the magic thread. But
as soon as one trouble was solved, another seemed to grow in its
place. Perhaps life would be easier if he retired, Peter thought.
Then he would no longer have to clamber about on drafty, half-completed
buildings and he could look after Liese when she was ill. The
trouble was that he didn't have enough money to live on. He picked
up his magic ball and looked at it. To his dismay he saw that
the thread was no longer silver but gray and lusterless. He decided
to go for a walk in the forest to think things over.
It was a long time since he had been in that part of the forest.
The small saplings had all grown into tall fir trees, and it was
hard to find the path he had once known. Eventually he came to
a bench in a clearing. He sat down to rest and fell into a light
doze. He was woken by someone calling his name, "Peter! Peter!"
He looked up and saw the old woman he had met so many years
ago when she had given him the magic silver ball with its golden
thread. She looked just as she had on that day, not a day older.
She smiled at him.
"So, Peter, have you had a good life?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Peter said. "Your magic ball
is a wonderful thing. I have never had to suffer or wait for anything
in my life. And yet it has all passed so quickly. I feel that
I have had no time to take in what has happened to me, neither
the good things nor the bad. Now there is so little time left.
I dare not pull the thread again for it will only bring me to
my death. I do not think your gift has brought me luck."
"How ungrateful you are!" the old woman said. "In
what way would you have wished things to be different?"
"Perhaps if you had given me a different ball, one where
I could have pushed the thread back in as well as pulling it out.
Then I could have relived the things that went badly."
The old woman laughed. "You ask a great deal! Do you think
that God allows us to live our lives twice over? But I can grant
you one final wish, you foolish, demanding man."
"What is that?" Peter asked.
"Choose," the old woman said. Peter thought hard.
At length he said, "I should like to live my life again
as if for the first time, but without your magic ball. Then I
will experience the bad things as well as the good without cutting
them short, and at least my life will not pass as swiftly and
meaninglessly as a daydream."
"So be it," said the old woman. "Give me back
my ball."
She stretched out her hand and Peter placed the silver ball
in it. Then he sat back and closed his eyes with exhaustion.
When he awoke he was in his own bed. His youthful mother was
bending over him, shaking him gently.
"Wake up, Peter. You will be late for school. You were
sleeping like the dead!"
He looked up at her in surprise and relief.
"I've had a terrible dream, Mother. I dreamed that I was
old and sick and that my life had passed like the blinking of
an eye with nothing to show for it. Not even any memories."
His mother laughed and shook her head.
"That will never happen," she said. "Memories
are the one thing we all have, even when we are old. Now hurry
and get dressed. Liese is waiting for you and you will be late
for school."
As Peter walked to school with Liese, he noticed what a bright
summer morning it was, the kind of morning when it felt good to
be alive. Soon he would see his friends and classmates, and even
the prospect of lessons didn't seem so bad. In fact he could hardly
wait.
The End.
