Children have long been a source of frank honesty that can so easily upset the carefully constructed arguments of adults. They are often capable of seeing straight through a lie, and similarly say what they see rather than what they think they are meant to see. Seeing and speaking the truth is however only of value when those around you believe you. In The Kings New Clothes the boy is fortunate that it was not so much seeing what no one else could, but speaking it: for the King was naked only no one wanted to be the first to say so.
In The Land of The Blind…
It is often said that the one eyed man is king. However if the blind have no concept of sight then the one eyed man had best keep his mouth shut. For just as there needed to be a concept of nakedness in The Kings New Clothes so there needs to be a concept of sight in the land of the blind if the one eyed man be King. If there is no concept then the one eyed man is a fool and no more believed than if one was in this World to claim to be able to see fairies. When one is disbelieved a truth is as good as a lie, and to be lumbered with it is a harsh punishment. Such was the case in this story…
THE BOY WITH AN EYE FOR TRUTH
They were a simple childless couple who on learning late in life that the wife was pregnant thought they were finally blessed with the child they had always wanted. When nine months later the child was born they were overjoyed that it was, apart from a small indent on his forehead, a health boy. At the time the doctors and midwife dismissed the indent as just normal baby wrinkles; for we are all born in skins slightly larger than we needed at the time, but then we soon grow into them. Thus the happy parents and child were sent home and whilst the wrinkles ironed out the indent grew deeper and a couple of weeks later the skin split to reveal a third eye.
Having longed for child for many years without success, the couple had largely given up, so when the wife fell pregnant they were overjoyed for this was, so they believed, was both proof of and a gift from God. However they had only wanted a normal child, one that would grow up as his father and live a life of the same blissful ignorance of his parents. So when this indentation grew and opened to reveal a 3rd eye in his forehead they felt a little betrayed.
“Why” asked the wife “Has God sent us this abomination?”
“I know” Said the husband “We have been good God fearing people, never having missed church and never doing anything that the bible forbids yet we have been given this abomination for a child”.
As a consequence the mother, who so much wanted to proudly push the pram down the village street, remained in doors. After several months the neighbours began to suspect something for neither mother nor child were seen and so the police were called. However on examination they were shown that both mother and baby were fine and although a little curious as to why a band of cloth had been tied around the child’s head, the police never asked, for they had come believing that they would find two bodies, so instead left feeling a little stupid and cursing the neighbours.
The child grew quickly and within a year had not only began to walk but had also started talking. However he had somehow acquired a vocabulary that exceeded his parents who rather than pleased became more ashamed. In truth their shame was simply an expression of, ignorance for they like most people feared what they did not understand, and having a child whose intellect and understanding exceeded theirs was thus not a cause for joy but one for sorrow.
The Doctor
Trust me, I'm a Doctor!
The boy similarly had a knack for knowing the truth and this was particularly evident when one day they called on a sick relative to be told by the doctor that it was only a transient illness and that soon the relative would be well. However the doctor in a misguided attempt to protect the patient and the relatives had told a lie. A lie which the boy had seen. For whilst the cloth obscured the eye from being seen it did not prevent the eye from seeing; for this was an eye for truth and truth cannot be simply hidden by a thin veil.
As they left the boy tried to tell the parents what he had seen “the doctor, he lied to you”. Angered by this the father replied “Son, the doctor is a good and learned man and you would do well to learn early that to question such men is wrong.”
The boy protested saying “But your uncle is very ill and if we leave now he will die alone”
However no one listens to a child least of all one who has an extra eye. Thus the next day the news came of the uncles death. He had as the boy predicted, died alone in his bed.
The Meter Man
A few months later whilst the father was out working a tradesman called at the house and showing the wife some papers explained that he was from the electricity company “to check the meter and ensure it complied with current legislation”. A little concerned at this news the tradesman assured the wife that “if it does not the company will replace it for we have only your safety at heart”. However the tradesman was not what he seemed and was nothing more than a confidence trickster. A fact which the boy realised and thus he warned his mother “Do not let this man in the house for he has lied and is nothing more than a petty thief”. Embarrassed by this outburst the mother apologised to the tradesman who laughed adding “Children imagine the most peculiar things”.
Assured by his charm she let him in and when the boy again protested “Mother, he is here to rob us, please send him away!” The foolish woman instead took the boy upstairs leaving the tradesman in the living room where he quickly found the old couples life’s savings; stuffed, as these people always do, in a tea pot on the mantle-piece. When she returned the tradesman eager to leave before the theft was noticed explained “the meter is all correct and you had nothing to worry about”.
“You have checked it already?” she queried
“Yes, only a 2 minute job. I’ll be on my way and leave you to get on with your business” and so he left.
When that evening came the husband returned home from work and at tea he told the wife that she had best be on her guard as his colleagues at work had warned him of a confidence trickster who had been pretending to check meters and then stealing valuables from peoples houses.
“Really” said the wife “Well he wont fool me as a tradesman came today and checked our meter and it was fine”
On hearing this the husband became concerned and pressed his wife for more information “Did you leave him alone at all?”
“No” she said then remembering added “Well only for a minute whilst I put the boy to bed”
Fearful of his savings the husband rushed into the living room and on checking the tea pot cried out “No! our money, our life’s savings are gone!” breaking down in tears the husband continued “Why has God so chose to curse us? First he gives us a child with a third eye and now because of that child you were distracted and we have been robbed!”
From behind the cloth tied around the little boys head rolled a tear, for not only had his warning not been heeded, but now he was being blamed for the very event he had tried to prevent. He too felt that he was cursed, cursed to see the truth but never to be believed.
The Insurance Advisor
Ponzi insurance advisor
Eager to recuperate the lost monies the husband took on extra work and then decided that he would not make the same mistake twice. So instead of stuffing the money in a tea pot he would invest in insurance schemes. So he called on several agents who then made visits to the house and each offered him good deals and promised excellent returns on his investment. However one agent was able to guarantee a minimum return of 25% and a probable return of 50% or more plus numerous bonuses and loyalty schemes which would double or even treble the final return.
The husband felt sure that this would mean that all his lost monies would be regained in less than a decade and so agreed to pay the adviser a hefty weekly sum. Again the boy saw through this man and after the agent had left again attempted to warn his father but was instead chastised. “Son why must you be so suspicious of these good men?”
“But father” the boy protested “I see the truth and this man….”
However the father interrupted: “Silence boy I will hear no more of it! You shall be put to bed!”
Thus the father toiled day after day earning as much money as he could before each week handing it over to the insurance adviser. Each week he came to collect the money and each time the adviser came he wore finer clothes and drove a better car and so the boy in desperation pointed this out “Look father at his clothes and his car! This is your monies he spends”
But the father would hear none of it saying “Son you have much to learn. My adviser is a good and capable man and what you see are the fruits of his labour. It is because he knows the markets so well that he earns good money. Now you be mindful and let me never hear you criticise him again!”
Several years passed and the father toiled and gave all the money earned to the adviser each and every Friday. Then one Friday the adviser failed to call. The same happened the next and the Friday after and concerned that he may incur some penalty the father took the day off work and called at the advisers office. Arriving he found it shut and so called into a small shop next door to ask if the shop owner knew of the whereabouts of the insurance adviser. As luck had it, he did.
“You will find him in prison!” said the shop keeper “That rogue embezzled millions off silly ignorant people who believed his stories of great returns on insurance investments but all the time he was spending their monies on the good life” Broken and disillusioned the husband left the shop and returned home.
The Old Green Chair
the old green chair
He had not the heart to tell his wife but the boy knew, for the truth could never be concealed from him and as they ate their tea a lone tear trickled from behind the cloth around his head. The husband not wishing to admit to his foolishness continued to work all the hours. Similarly so as not to concern the wife he told her that the agent had moved and that now it was easier for him to collect the monies from his work. The couple continued to live frugally and the husband resorted to once again hiding the monies he earned; this time under the seat of an old green chair.
He had still not told his wife of the truth about the insurance adviser and in time he managed in that chair to accumulate quite a tidy sum. So much so that he determined that he would at the end of the week share with his wife the truth. For when he showed her what he had saved she would not be so heart broken at what they had lost to the fake adviser.
However if not enough tragedy had visited the couple already the Friday morning the husband left for work thinking to himself with my wages today I will have saved over £10,000 and tonight I will show my wife, and our old age will be once again be secure.
Not ten minutes after he left that morning some second hand dealers called at the house looking for old furniture to buy. The wife eager to help her husband let the men look at their furniture and whilst they had little to sell was offered £10 for the old chair.
The boy knowing the truth protested “Mother don’t sell the chair, it is fathers favourite and he will not be pleased” but the mother sent him to his room, took the £10 and the chair and the monies were gone.
The father, keen to share the secret with the wife, came home and with him he bought a cake, for they had not eaten such in many years. On seeing the cake the wife said “Oh you must have heard of our good fortune then?”
Puzzled the husband asked “Good fortune?”
“Yes” said the wife handing the husband the £10. “After you went to work today some second hand furniture dealers called and they gave me £10 for that old rickety chair”.
Horrified the father asked “What chair?”
“The old green one” said the wife smiling and adding “it was all lumpy and not nice to sit in”
It was too much for the husband and he promptly collapsed and died. His wife now widowed never learned the truth about the chair but was left with just her husbands last weeks wage and the ten pounds which was sufficient to pay for the most basic of funerals.
The Sad Truth
Not long after the funeral the wife learned the truth about the insurance adviser and realising that she would not be in receipt of any payout nor any pension the worry made her grow old quickly and soon after she died too. The boy now in his early teens sold the remaining furniture and buried his mother before disappearing never to be seen again. Rumour had it that he joined a troop of travelling gypsies and told fortunes for a living but no one for sure really knew what happened to him and even if we knew the truth would we believe it?
If there is anything to be learned from this story it is that ignorance is sometimes best left that way for to see the truth and share it does not necessarily help the ignorant nor improve their lives. Sometimes the truth just leads to more misery and causes a story to end as sad as it began.
TTFN
Dirty Mac
+10
Whilst we have been quiet on the posting front that was at least to be expected… we have both run out of per-prepared and completed works and been too busy creating the means for new posts to actually write them…yet.
Furthermore we will, as this picture demonstrates, be growing all our plants using the compost we made in the first batch.It is though too young and ripe to use directly but with some old coir and mole hill soil we will hopefully construct an acceptable medium without having to resort to imports and purchases. Again we will be making some posts on how to construct container media.
