Penny for your thoughts.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, gorgeous land, still in the age of castles and princesses. There, the days went by like in any other: The sun rising and setting, and meanwhile, many things happened, many adventurous things. But none was so exceptional as that one day, on which the sun was rising into a rather misty morning. It seemed quite plain as any other, but for one thing. A bird sat on the edge of a cliff, watching over the valley. On the other side, lay a castle, quite hidden in the damp air of mist. But a light shone over it, and the bird too might have noticed, that something was about to happen.
In an old farm house, far away from the misty land, lived a little boy and girl. As brother and sister, they of course had times to argue, but also to play. They lived there together with their aunt and uncle, for their parents had died when they were still far younger. Every day passed as another. Until that one fateful day when the old bell on the door rang. The boy hurried to open it, but there was a sight which he had never seen before. In front of him, on the doorstep under the pouring rain, stood a little, pointy-hatted dwarf.

The little boy had never seen a dwarf before, let alone a pointy hat. He ran to get his sister Jan from the lounge room at once. “Jan, Jan, You just have to come see this!” He shouted.

Jan was sitting in the Lounge room on a big scruffy mat on the floor playing with her wooden peg dolls. “What is it Jack?” said Jan annoyed. “Can’t you see I am busy?” Unfortunately for Jan and Jack, Jan had never been a very pleasant or well mannered girl for that matter. “Don’t worry about it Jan!” yelled Jack”.

Jack hurried back to the door and where the little funny pointed-hat dwarf had once been standing there was a single penny. The dwarf was gone. He had left a scroll of paper with a little piece of ribbon on it addressed to Jack. Jack picked up the penny in awe; he had never had a whole penny to himself. He carefully unrolled the note only to find written inside: ‘A penny for your thoughts Jack’. Jack thought nothing more of it and moved his hand over the surface of the penny.

Jan had been busy in the lounge room, by now she had built an entire fortress out of Jacks books. “Hey I was reading that one!” Jack cried.” I don’t care”. Jan said in an angry tone.

Jack had thought about sharing the penny with Jan but he was getting really tired of the way she always talked to him. He ran out of the house knowing that Jan was so busy doing what ever she wanted that she wouldn’t even realize that he was gone.

He ran to the local market and bought a big bag of old Mr. Jones’ sweets. Mr. Jones made the best sweets in all the land, in the whole of Jacks life he had only ever tried one sweet that he had found on the ground beside the well. Jack scoffed every last one feeling really happy with himself and then he hurried home and went to his room without even saying goodnight to Jan.

Jan and Jacks Uncle and Auntie Andrew and Beatrice arrived home late that night. They had spent all day ploughing the corn fields in order to earn a small wage. For each week that they worked they received a penny between them. This was usually used to buy wheat and hens so that they could make their own bread and have eggs on toast. They sure did eat a lot of eggs and toast. What ever was left over was used to clothe and care for the children.

Auntie Beatrice went into the kitchen and turned on the tap. She ran the cold water over her dry cracked hands. She had been working so hard all her life and she should have really been retired by now but by chance she had ended up bringing up the children.

“Goodnight my darling” said Uncle Andrew. He kissed his dear wife and then went to bed. Auntie Beatrice dried off her hands and checked on the children and went upstairs to bed as well.

The next morning was a beautiful day the sun was shining and the birds were singing, Jack jumped up out of bed. He was just making his was downstairs when he heard a tap on the door. He rushed to the door wondering what he may find behind it today.

Jack turned the handle and opened the door. He saw a funny little man scurry off down the road with a pointy little hat in one hand.

There on the doorstep lay a tiny little box. On the outside of the box there was a note addressed to Jack. ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ it read. Jack opened the box excitedly but to his sadness there was a tiny little quail huddled in a corner of the box. Jack took the bird inside and thought to himself what good is this? He thought about taking the bird to the market and selling it so that he could buy more sweets. He also knew that by doing this it would mean certain doom for the frightened little creature.

He decided to take notice of what the little dwarf had said and set the quail free. The quail hurried off and looked back at Jack as if to say thank you.

Jack went in to the lounge room and Jan was still sitting in the same place where she had been yesterday. “Good morning Jan” beamed Jack. “Go away can’t you see I am busy”. Jan had taken all of Jacks best school books and had used them to add to her fortress of books. Jack sighed and turned around and slowly walked back up to his room.

Auntie Beatrice and Uncle Andrew arrived home early from work. They both had a sad look on their faces. Jack ran up to them and gave them both a big hug. “What’s the matter Aunt and Uncle?” Jack said. “The crops are no good son,” Uncle Andrew put his hands over his face and started sobbing. “There there dear it will all be alright” said Beatrice. It turned out that his Auntie and Uncle had been fired because the crows had kept eating the corn and they were not selling enough corn to cover costs.

Weeks went by and slowly but surely the family grew thinner and thinner. They could not afford seed to feed the hens and they soon grew weak and stopped laying eggs. There was no wheat to roll any bread and they barely had enough to get by. Jack was starting to feel very bad about spending a whole penny on sweets when that could have bought his whole family a week’s supply of food. Jack decided to tell his Auntie and Uncle about the penny that he really could have shared. He was expecting them to get upset with him but they both smiled and Auntie Beatrice seemed to be really happy that Jack had been honest with them. They all decided not to tell Jan about it because her temper was already bad enough.

The next morning Jack got up as usual. He could hear his tummy growling as he walked down the steps. He heard a knock on the door. He walked slowly towards the door and as he opened it he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a treasure chest addressed to Jack. It was full of pennies there would have to be at least two hundred.

Jack noticed a little note attached to it and opened it, the note read: ‘Honesty is the best policy’. To Dear Jack, May all your days ahead be great ones, thank you for setting me free with love from the Quail and the Dwarf. You passed the test with flying colours. Jack was stunned. He did not know what to do. He knew he would have to show his Aunt and Uncle right away.

They were amazed and decided not to tell Jan. Jan was shipped off to boarding school to learn a few manners while Jack, his Aunt and Uncle decided to start an animal sanctuary to help preserve wildlife. They lived happily ever after and never had to go hungry again.

The moral to this story is Honesty is the best policy in most situations, freedom can not be bought and don’t forget to save a penny for your thoughts, you just never know when you might need it.




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