The Turtles' Picnic

There is this story about three turtles. I first heard this story told by Prem Rawat, who is, among other things, the master of story telling. I am re-telling it here not because I can do it as well as he, but because I like it very much and want to understand it more completely in the re-telling. I hope I can do it the justice it deserves.

***

Once there were three turtles. Papa Turtle. Mama Turtle. And, Little Turtle. One day they decided to go on a picnic. So Mama Turtle made some sandwiches and prepared the picnic basket for their outing. When all was ready, they started out.

And they walked…

They were turtles, so you can imagine that they walked for a long time before they got very far.

Finally, they arrived at a nice spot in a meadow under a big, shady tree. Here they stopped and spread out their picnic blanket, and unpacked their picnic basket. As Mama Turtle was taking out the nice lunch she had prepared, she stopped. She looked through the picnic basket again, and then said, “Oh my. I forgot the pickles.”

“Oh my!” Said Papa Turtle with a fairly large sigh. “I was really looking forward to eating a nice pickle with my sandwich.”

“Well, what shall we do?” Said Mama Turtle. “I left them on the kitchen table.”

With that, Papa Turtle turned to Little Turtle and said, “Will you please run home and get the pickles?”

And Little Turtle said, “No.”

“What?” said Papa Turtle, very surprised. “Why won’t you go?”

“Because.” Little Turtle replied. “If I go, you will eat my sandwich while I am gone!”

“Oh, No, No, No!” Exclaimed Papa Turtle. “I PROMISE I will NOT eat your sandwich while you are gone.”

“I don’t believe you.” Little Turtle was very skeptical.

“Oh, please, please, please…” begged Papa Turtle. “I PROMISE I will not eat your sandwich while you are gone. A picnic is not a picnic without pickles to eat with your sandwich. And I was really looking forward to having a pickle with mine.”

Finally, Little Turtle reluctantly agreed to go back to their house and return with the pickles. But as he left, he kept stopping and turning his head away around to make sure his sandwich was still safe in the picnic basket.

Papa Turtle and Mama Turtle settled themselves under the tree to wait for Little Turtle to come back with the pickles.

And they waited…

Now, they were turtles, and they knew that even though Little Turtle was young and spry, it would still take him a long time to go home, get the pickles, and come back, even if he ran the whole way.

Well, one day passed…

Then, the second day passed…

And, the third day also passed…

Finally, Papa Turtle was so hungry he could wait no longer, for he and Mama Turtle had long ago eaten their own sandwiches (without the pickles), and he went over and opened the picnic basket.

Just then, Little Turtle jumped out from behind a tree. “AH HA!” He cried. “I knew it. I knew you would eat my sandwich while I was gone!” He was triumphant.

***

In this way Little Turtle let his suspicion cause the very thing he was afraid of to come true. This is the way with most of us. We are all waiting for something to happen. And, as we wait, time is passing, taking with it the very gifts life has brought us in that moment. Little Turtle missed the picnic while he waited behind the tree for Papa Turtle to eat his sandwich. Better to appreciate what we have now and not be so distracted by the way we think things are supposed to be. What do you think?

***

©wkgray October 2014

All For The Best

There is this story about a king, his favorite minister, and his favorite minister’s favorite saying. You may have already guessed that the favorite minister’s favorite saying was “All for the best.” This is an old story that came to me many years ago, handed down at story telling time one afternoon or evening.

***

Once there was a king who had a favorite minister. And, the minister had a favorite saying. Whenever something that seemed unfortunate happened, the minister would always say, “Well, don’t worry. It’s all for the best.”

Well, you know how it is to have a best friend, or maybe brother or sister, and to spend all your time together. After a while, you can start to get on each other’s nerves. This was starting to happen with the king and his favorite minister. The minister was starting to get on the king’s nerves.

One morning the king cut his finger. Well, when the king’s minister heard what had happened, he said, “Well, don’t worry, it’s all for the best.”

When the king heard what the minster said, he became so angry that he commanded that the minister be taken to his dungeons, stripped, beaten, and only given bread and water to eat and drink until the king sent further orders. Then, the king went to the edge of his kingdom with a hunting party to better his mood.

The party reached the edge of the kingdom and began the hunt. But, it was not long before the king became separated from the rest of the party and began to wander alone. He had not been wandering on his won for long when he happened to fall into a tiger pit.

As it turned out, he was not long in the tiger pit before a scouting party from the neighboring kingdom found him and took him back to the center of their own kingdom. Everyone was very excited because they were preparing for the biggest festival of the year, and they needed a human sacrifice to offer to their gods. The king made the perfect offering. Not only was he royalty, which would please their gods, but, he did not come from their own tribe, which was starting to run short on suitable candidates for the ceremony.

The morning of the ceremony soon came, and the neighboring tribe’s priests began to prepare the king for the sacrifice. The first thing they did was to give the king a ritual bath. As they were washing the king, soap got in his cut finger, and he cried out.

When the priests saw that the king was cut, they immediately thanked their gods for saving them from offering an imperfect sacrifice to them. Then they gave the king a royal escort back to his own kingdom.

Well, the first thing the king did upon his return to his own kingdom, was to have his favorite minister taken from the dungeon, washed, put in the king’s own bed, and attended to by his won physician and ladies in waiting.

When all the minister’s needs had been attended to and he was comfortable in the king’s chambers, the king went to him and told the story of everything that had befallen him since he sent the minister to the dungeon. When he was finished his tale, he said, “Now, I can see that you were right, and everything turned out ‘all for the best’.” Then the king paused for a moment.

“But, what I don’t understand is how could things have worked out ‘all for the best’ for you. You were stripped, beaten, thrown in my dungeon, which does not provide the best of accommodations. You were only given bread and water to eat and drink until my return. Now, how could this have worked out “all for the best” for you?”

The king’s favorite minister smiled and answered, “Oh my king, if I had not been here in your dungeon, I would have been in the tiger pit with you. And, there was nothing wrong with me.

***

In this way you can see that things really do work out all for the best. Many times you have to wait for enough time to pass for the full story to unfold. But, if you are patient and pay attention, life will continue and circumstances will change. And in the end, you will see that things have worked out ‘all for the best’.