Be Who You Are

Eight year old Adel and his widowed mother lived on a small farm outside the village of Matsbury. They were not well-off and had to do most of the chores in and around the house themselves.

One April holiday, Adel’s aunt invited them to go and stay with her for a week, giving them a chance to see the city and enjoy a change of scenery. Adel’s mother had agreed to it, as her neighbour had offered to keep an eye on their home during this time. In addition, their neighbour suggested that they might find lodgers to stay in their home during that time, so as to support their income a bit. He kindly put an advertisement on the internet, as Adel and his mother did not own a computer. They decided that would-be lodgers could come and view the house on the first Saturday of March. Two couples responded to the advertisement, one agreeing to come to the farm at about 9am and the other at about 10am. Adel and his mother worked hard to make everything look neat and tidy. As the lodgers indicated that they would bring their family and some friends along, they borrowed two sets of bunk beds, which they stacked in Adel’s room. Adel’s mother left her room as it was and just moved his single bed into her room as well.

Their little garden was neat and tidy as usual, and they put some flowers in vases all around the house. Adel’s mother had baked rusks the day before and the sweet aroma of drying rusks in the warm oven filled their home. They were ready for the first visitor.

Suddenly Adel noticed that the big show rooster had managed to get out of his cage and he was about to create havoc in the hennery, where the breeding rooster was. The show rooster didn’t take too kindly to other roosters on the farm and was renowned for attacking them, unless he was safely locked away in his own cage. Adel immediately ran after him, caught him and put him back in his cage. He noticed that there was a hole in the cage and attempted to close the hole while at the same time trying to stop the rooster from escaping. There was no-one around to help him, as his mother had gone back into the kitchen. He was starting to feel desperate, for in the distance he could see the dust of a car approaching and he knew these would be the first people to come and see their house. He also knew that his mother wanted him to be clean and dressed in his best clothes, while right now he was dusty from diving after the rooster and his farm clothes were dirty from the morning chores of taking out eggs, milking the cow, cleaning the horse’s stable and feeding the pigs.

Suddenly he remembered that he had put his table tennis bat in his back pocket. It had been lying on the dinner table where he used to play with his mother, and he had put it in his pocket so that he could go and put it away in his room, when suddenly he had been side-tracked by the escaping rooster. His table tennis bat was very precious to him, as it was his only bat and he was the town’s junior table tennis champion. However, he couldn’t see any planks lying around to fix the hole with and he couldn’t let the rooster escape again, so what to do? Time was running out! The visitors were almost here! He grabbed his table tennis bat and pushed it down into the soil so that the hole in the cage was closed. He winced as he saw his bat in the ground, but knew his responsibility towards the animals on the farm was greater than the state of his bat, so he made sure that the bat was firmly imbedded in the ground so that the rooster couldn’t get out again. He could fix the hole properly after the visitors had gone.

By now his mother was calling to him anxiously, so he ran home to go and get dressed. He went to the back door, for he knew he couldn’t leave dusty foot prints all over the house and called to her to bring his clothes. He quickly got undressed at the back door, used the outside shower to wash, half-dried himself with a towel which they always kept next to the outside shower and jumped into the clothes that his mother had brought. He thanked her and put his dirty clothes in a bucket outside the back door, out of sight of the visitors. Just in time!

The visitors stopped in front of their little house. Their gleaming sports car was covered in a fine layer of dust. Through the window they saw the man and woman look around them. They stepped outside to greet them, smiled warmly and invited them in.

The couple smiled back stiffly and entered the house. “It’s very small,” remarked the woman. “Yes,” said Adel’s mother, “only the two of us live here.” “Can we see the rest of the house please?” asked the woman. “With pleasure,” said Adel’s mother, who was proud of her home, and led them through the passage to the other rooms. “Oh dear,” exclaimed the woman, “bunk beds! That would never do; so little space in this bedroom!” They peered into the main bedroom and the woman shook her head. “No,” she said, “I’m not sharing a room with anyone sleeping on that single bed; you’ll have to remove that bed.” “I’m sorry,” said Adel’s mother, “I can’t do that, as the only other place to put that bed is in the shed, and as it is my son’s bed, I am not prepared to put it there where mice can get to it.”

The woman merely lifted her chin and didn’t answer. They walked back to the lounge. The visitors briefly looked into the bathroom with its antique ball and claw feet bath, but said nothing. “May I offer you some coffee and freshly baked rusks?” Adel’s mother suggested politely. “No thank you,” said the woman, “we’d better be going; this isn’t what we are looking for. We need a get-away house which is much bigger and much more modern.” With that they got into their car and drove away in a cloud of dust.

“The man never even said a word,” remarked Adel. They both stood there and just silently watched the people go. Adel’s mother sighed and turned to go to the kitchen. “Mum,” he said, tugging at her sleeve, “may I ask you something?” “Of course darling,” she smiled at him. “Why did you not leave me in my farm clothes, why was it important to do things that are different to how we usually do them? I even had to sacrifice my table tennis bat just to look neat and tidy for them.” “Sometimes people make decisions based on what things look like on the outside,” she said, “and it is an old belief that we should behave in a way that people who judge us from the outside, will think highly of us. I thought that if we looked our best we might find somebody to rent the house while we are away.”

“Well, Mum,” said Adel, “you have always taught me to challenge beliefs which don’t feel right to me, and I would like to challenge this belief, if I may. How about we don’t do anything out of the ordinary for our next visitors, and they can just judge us as we are? What do we have to lose? I know we need the money, but I would rather you didn’t rent our home out to people who judge others by their outer appearances. It seems contrary to what you always teach me to believe, that all people are equal and that I should never judge a book by its cover.”

Adel’s mother nodded in agreement. “You are right, my son, you have the wisdom of the innocent. Let us do it your way and see what happens.”

She went to the kitchen, put her apron on and started taking the rusks out of the drying oven. Adel went to his room, hung his clean clothes in his cupboard and went out the backdoor. He put on his dusty farm clothes and muttered to himself…”nothing wrong with a bit of dust, I’m still working! What nonsense that I have to fix a cage with my table tennis bat...” He went to the shed, selected some planks and nails, and went back to the rooster’s cage. He carefully pulled his bat from the ground, dusted it and put it in his back pocket. He then proceeded to skillfully fix the cage with the new planks and some nails, all the time chatting to the rooster as if it they were the best of friends. As he put the hammer and pliers back in the shed, he saw the next visitors arriving.

These people were driving a station wagon, and as they got out, both of them stretched and smiled. “Isn’t this just lovely,” exclaimed the woman. “Wonderful!” said the man, sniffing deeply, “clean, pure air.” Adel saw his mother step out of the house and shake hands with them. He walked over and paused in the doorway. The visitors noticed him immediately and greeted him warmly. “Hi,” said Adel, “welcome to our farm. “My apologies for my ‘dusty looks’!” He kicked his shoes off and left them just outside the door, as was his habit and his way of keeping the carpet clean. “Oops,” said the couple, were we supposed to take our shoes off? We are so sorry; did we make a mess on your carpet?” Adel and his mother laughed. “No,” they said, “you are welcome to keep your shoes on; it’s just a good habit that Adel has learnt so that he doesn’t bring mud and dirt into the house when he has been working outside.” “Good habit,” smiled the man in agreement and nodded at Adel.

“Your home is lovely,” remarked the woman, “and it smells gorgeous.” “Thank you,” said Adel’s mother, “would you like to see the rest of the house?” “Yes please,” they agreed and proceeded to look at the bedrooms and the bathroom. “Oh, how quaint,” exclaimed the woman when she saw the bath, “I have always wanted to use a bathroom with real old ball and claw feet!” “Perfect,” said the man when he saw the bunk beds, “just what we need for the older children and their friends. Good thing about the single bed in the main bedroom too,” he said, “our youngest can sleep here.”

Adel and his mother smiled at each other and walked back to the lounge. “May I offer you some coffee and rusks?” invited Adel’s mother. “Unfortunately we can’t stay,” said the man, “as we have another appointment, but your rusks smell so good, I wonder if we could buy some from you.” “You may have a packet to take with you,” said Adel’s mother, fetching a brown paper packet with some rusks for them. “There is no need to pay for it, your enjoyment is my payment,” she smiled.

“Thank you,” said the couple. “Your home is the perfect get-away place for us in April; it is exactly what we need. In fact, we have looked at a couple of homes, and yours was the only one that looked and felt authentically farm-like. At all the other homes we felt as if people were dressed up just as we dress up in the city, the houses were replicas of city homes and no-where but here, did we see anyone dressed in their everyday clothes, with a home which feels as if it belongs here in the mountain. Because of that, and because we believe in exchanging value for value, we would like to double your payment for the week. You have no idea how much your natural behaviour means to us, and how valuable it is to find someone who is not trying to impress us with external grandeur.”

He peeped at Adel. “You look familiar,” he said, “I’m sure I’ve seen your picture somewhere.” Adel smiled shyly. He knew his picture had been in the newspaper when he won the table tennis championship, but he was too modest to say so. “Look,” said the woman, “there it is on the mantelpiece!” They all looked towards the mantelpiece where they saw Adel’s picture. His mother had had the picture framed of when he received his trophy and proudly displayed it on the mantelpiece. “Ah”, said the man, “that’s who you are. I was there on that day and I noticed you, not just because you won, but because of the way you won the competition. You played your game with a focus and attention seldom seen in young players, and when it was announced that you had won the competition you just smiled and accepted your trophy with a modesty and sense of gratitude that was very touching.”

With that, the couple smiled at each other, greeted Adel and his mother, and left. Again, Adel and his mother just stood there and looked at the departing car.

“I am so proud of you my son,” said Adel’s mother and kissed him on the top of his head, “I am so proud of you. You have re-taught me what I have taught you, to just be who we are, that who we are is good enough.”


Copyright © 2010 Susan Bellingan Fourie

Acknowledgement:
photo: Shani Grove
http://www.blazelightaround.co.uk/pages/dreamblazer.php

Etienne meets LongBeard

LongBeard is a gnome. He is about 10 000 years old and has an unusually long beard, even for a gnome.

LongBeard lives on the golf course in Riversdale, a small rural town near Cape Town in South Africa. Only one human being so far has been lucky enough to meet him and that is how we come to know about LongBeard.



THE STORY begins…one Saturday morning long ago, way back in 1966, a young man by the name of Etienne was playing his usual weekly golf game on the golf course in Riversdale. He enjoyed being there, hitting the little white golf ball, trying to improve his handicap of 16. He especially enjoyed seeing the little stream and trees along the golf course, making this a lovely get-away place from the daily hard work of dentistry, which was his profession.

However, there were times when he didn’t enjoy having the little stream and trees there, such as when he hit the ball badly, and it flew in the wrong direction…straight into the trees, to be lost or played with great difficulty. Little did Etienne know that there was a society of gnomes living amongst those trees, and they thought it was very funny that human beings could get so intensely emotional about a little white ball!

On this particular cool, fresh autumn day, it so happened that Etienne miss-hit the golf ball on the fourth hole, causing it to disappear amongst the trees. He set off to go and look for his ball and saw it lying in the middle of the shallow stream. As he got closer to the ball, he thought it was lying on a piece of material, as he could see something which looked like green fabric sticking out from under the white ball. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks! The ball wasn’t only lying on a piece of green material, it was on top of a little man, wearing a long, pointed green hat! He rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be dreaming or hallucinating! But no, the little man was still there; in fact the little man looked as if he was in trouble, for the ball seemed to have knocked him unconscious. Every now and again the water flowed over his face, making it difficult for him to breathe!

Etienne had to act fast if he were to save this little creature’s life! He dashed forward into the stream, ignoring the fact that his shoes and the bottom of his golf trousers were getting wet! While with one hand he removed the golf ball from the little man’s tummy, he slid his other hand under the little man’s body, carefully lifting him above the water, taking care in case the little man had other injuries, especially to his back or his neck. He looked in astonishment at the little creature in his hand and carefully took in every detail: the long, dark green pointed hat with the orange tassel at the end, the blended autumn and natural colours of the little trousers and shirt, the brown leathery shoes, the creamy complexion with the slightly elongated ears and round nose and the long thin fingers. Most noticeable was the extremely long brown and grey beard which seemed to be longer than the little man himself. In total, the little man was no taller than the palm of his hand.

Suddenly the little man opened his eyes. They were a very bright, light blue colour and so startlingly intense that Etienne almost dropped him out of fright. With his heart in his mouth, trying very hard to stop his hand from shaking, Etienne non-chalantly tried to speak. “Hello,” he tried to say in his normal dentist-neutral voice which he uses for nervous patients. However, this time Etienne was the nervous one and his voice sounded more like a squeak than an adult greeting! The next moment, the little man disappeared in front of his eyes and on his hand was simply a big yellow coloured oak leaf. He stared at it in disbelief, again rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating, but there on his hand was just a leaf, and no little man.

Etienne was a clever man, and he knew he wasn’t dreaming or “seeing things”. He poked at the leaf and thought for a while. Suddenly he remembered a technique called “shape-shifting”, an ancient practice which some people use to change themselves into something else. He remembered when he grew up on the farm, how the old native shaman spoke about beings which had the ability to alter their physical appearance. The old shaman used to be able to change his appearance, but until this point in time Etienne was rather skeptical about the concept and had certainly never seen anyone other than the old shaman do it. Then he remembered a hint that the old shaman had given him: the old shaman had taught him that only human beings can lie more than three times in a row, but other beings can’t. So he decided to put the old shaman’s teachings to the test.

“Show me who you really are,” he said to the leaf. The yellow leaf just lay there in his hand. “Show me who you really are,” he said to the leaf a second time. Next thing there was a brown acorn lying in his hand. His heart started to beat faster, for he knew there was definitely something going on here. A third time he said, “Show me who you really are.” And there, on his hand, sat the little gnome, glaring up at him with his bright, light blue eyes, grumpily saying, “Now what did you do that for? You aren’t supposed to see me!” Etienne just stared at the little man with his mouth open, his golf game long forgotten. “You are for real,” he whispered ungrammatically. “Yes,” chuckled the little man, “but no-one will believe you when you tell them about me, so don’t even try!”

From the golf course Etienne’s colleague, Tom, was calling him, telling him to hurry up. Etienne realised with a rush of insight what problems would be created for the little man and his community if others knew about their existence. “I’m coming,” he shouted back at Tom, “I’m just trying to get my ball out of the stream!”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Etienne asked the little man, the medical practitioner side of him taking over. “No,” said the little man, “I was just winded when your ball hit me in the tummy; I should have been more careful and paid more attention, as we know these balls sometimes smack into our homes like white, round missiles!” “I’m sorry,” apologized Etienne, “I’ll certainly try and make sure that I hit straighter next time, I never realised that I may be hitting someone’s home!” “Not only do these golf balls hit our homes,” the gnome exclaimed, “but when you people come and look for your balls, you walk like drunken elephants, tramping on things without looking, breaking twigs and stepping on our gardens! We do wish you would pay more attention to your surroundings, and walk more carefully! There are other creatures about, you know, this earth isn’t just inhabited by humans!” Etienne nodded. The old shaman on the farm used to say the same things and used to caution him to be more respectful of his environment, to treat all beings, seemingly living and non-living, with equal respect. The things the old shaman taught him long ago, were one by one starting to make sense.

Tom was calling again, telling Etienne he was delaying the game, so Etienne put the gnome down on the grass on the other side of the narrow stream. He had so many more questions he wanted to ask, but he intuitively felt that this might not be the right time. The old shaman had taught him to respect this intuition, so he listened to his inner voice and simply said, “I must go, can you at least tell me your name? My name is Etienne.” “I know your name,” said the gnome, “I have often seen you here. You people don’t know how much you give away with your habits and the way you talk. I even know that you have a wife called Matty, and you have two children named Christian and Susan who are 5 and 4 years old. I have many names; you can call me what you like.”

“Can I tell my family about you?” Etienne asked. “Yes,” said the little man, “they are the only ones who will believe you.” “Thank you,” nodded Etienne, excited about the prospect of sharing his wonderful experience with those closest to his heart. “Good-bye,” he then said, “I will call you LongBeard. I hope to meet you again soon.” He stepped back very carefully in case he was treading on some invisible garden, tip-toed out of the trees, dropped his golf ball and continued playing with Tom, being very careful to look as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

From the trees LongBeard watched him and he knew that the prophecy his grandmother had made on the day of his birth had come true. She had said, “In your lifetime, your duty will be to help humans become more aware that they are not the only inhabitants of Mother Earth, that they need to re-learn their lost ability to perceive all that is around them with more than their five physical senses. They need to re-member not to just use their outer senses for hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling and feeling, but also their inner senses; they need to re-member that what they perceive with their outer senses only gives them about 5% of what there is to perceive, and that they need to learn how to use their inner perceptions, to delight in the magnitude and magnificence of this Creation. It has been written in the stars that you will be there to help them.”

Copyright © 2010 Susan Bellingan Fourie

Acknowledgement: http://www.shamanelder.com/

artnewsopinion.wordpress.com

Pippo and the Green Duck help each other

One bright, sunny day Pippo and his wise friend LongBeard went for a walk. They enjoyed walking along the footpaths of the forest, talking to each other and saying hello to the creatures of nature.

Suddenly Pippo heard a faint quack. They stopped and listened carefully. There it was again - a very faint, weak sounding quack. Pippo and LongBeard walked towards where they heard the sound coming from and under a bush they found a green duck, every now and again quacking faintly.

"Oh dear," said Pippo to his friend LongBeard, "what do we do now? We are quite far away from the pond where the duck will be safe!" LongBeard stroked the duck and asked her what was wrong. "A snake spat at me," she said, "and its spit was toxic, so my body feels very lame. I got such a fright that I just crawled in under the bush to hide, but now I don't have the strength to come out again!" "Let us help you," said LongBeard. "If you like, we can take you home with us until you are better and then we can take you back to the pond."

"Thank you so much," said the duck, "that would be wonderful." LongBeard picked her up and checked to see if she had any other injuries. He carefully stretched her wings one by one, and then her legs one by one. "How does it feel?" he asked the duck. "It feels good to stretch again," said the duck and I'm already feeling better knowing the two of you are here to help me." "Good," replied LongBeard. "Pippo, would you like to carry her?" he asked, seeing that Pippo was keen to help but didn't know how.

"Oh, yes please!" said Pippo and stretched out his arms. "Now hold her like this," said LongBeard, "just like the little boy in the story which I read to you last night. Put your one hand under her tummy to support her and to leave her legs free to move, one hand on her back to keep her stable and curl your arm in so that she is supported against your chest." Pippo took the duck and gently held her against his chest.

He smiled at her and stroked her back. "You are lovely," he said to the duck, "and soon you will be well again, happily swimming on the pond with your friends." "Thank you," said the duck and nuzzled his arm gently. Pippo's heart was filled with gratitude and delight as until now no-one knew that secretly he was terrified of ducks, having been pecked sharply by a duck in the past when he was still a little boy.

"Thank YOU," he said to the duck, "you have also helped me to overcome a silly fear which I have been harbouring unnecessarily for many years!"

He kissed her on her head and they walked back home.

Copyright © 2010 Susan Bellingan Fourie

Acknowledgement: Feathersite.com

hedgiesjoy.blogspot.com, praisephotography.com

http://www.blazelightaround.co.uk/pages/dreamblazer.php