Jack and His Beans

Fee – Fi - Fo – Fum! The devils bowed down before the Jack..and he lived happily ever after.

We all know the story of Jack and the beanstalk. How he went to sell his cow and came back with the beans and the elderly of the house was disappointed and threw the beans out of the house. Rest is history. The beans grew; Jack climbed and became immortal in the pages of fairy tales.

I have a theory about these tales – they can be interpreted the way we want to. So I always see this story as follows

Every child in this world is Jack. He has a cow which is the family inheritance he gets. Now he can milk the cow and the story ends. But for any reason he cannot milk the cow, he goes in the market and comes back with the beans. The beans are his potential. At this point an elder who can be his parent or teacher plays the most important role. The original story simply overlooks this and focuses on the struggles Jack faces all his life. What if we fine tune the story there?

So, once Jack opens his palm and shows his beans to the elder, they can -

1. Throw the beans just like the story. But not every story is a fairy tale ending. So the beans can grow or simply dry up under the heat of life.

OR

2. They can help the child to sow the bean deep; nurture it with compassion; water it with the sweat of their hard work and make him strong enough to climb up all the way without stumbling and be strong to make the devils bow down before him. The result will be a new story written for every Jack with the ending...he lived happily ever after.

Let the child explore his potential; just guide him to nurture his passion and work towards shaping it as his future. I am sure we will not only see a happy and successful child but a better and more prosperous society.

Kachhua

A small boy in a tiny village in remote corner of the world decided to explore. So, he circled around his house; then headed towards the broken narrow dusty path. He was amused to see everything that came in his way. Finally he crossed the fields and stood midst a jungle. The sunlight played hide and seek through the canopy of tall trees. Then he saw something.

“A moving rock” he whispered to himself. The unusual oval shaped rock with an intricate pattern moved slowly. He went close and saw a pair of paws and a head peeping out for a fraction but before he could make out anything it went in and the rock was rock again.

Boy could not leave it there, for him it was a magic unwinding.

He carried it all the way home. He wanted to see what was inside. So he poked it with a stick, needled it with a twig, submerged it in water but nothing happened. He shook it up and and shook it down but finally sat down with a frown!

His grand ma was sitting on a side, watching his tricks and was getting amused.

“Amma, what is this?” he finally went to her to seek some wisdom.

“Kachhua” She spoke in hindi – “Yes a tortoise” She smiled.

“What should I do to see him come out” the boy asked

“Keep it in sun on the grassy patch and come and sit with me” she instructed and he obediently followed.

After sometime the boy saw the head coming out slowly. He started moving on his pace and the boy was thrilled.

“How did it happen?” he looked at his grandma. What his endless efforts could not do, she did it without doing anything.

“Give them a little space and warmth and they will open up” she smiled and the boy got a new friend ‘Kachhua’

Inside us there is a ‘Kachhua’ - Living in a shell trying to protect our self, refusing to come out if pushed or poked but with little space, little warmth, little trust and little compassion – we end up finding a friend for life.