Peggy And the Gypsy: A fable for those who believe they might, should, do, but don’t know it all….
Once upon a time, not so long ago and well, quite
often, there lived a young lady called Peggy. The poor girl's home life was
torrid, and she was not loved or mothered and spent her days doing chores and
hiding in her room. And like so many little girls that grow up to be big girls,
there was a lot of wisdom that needed to be learned.
Well, Peggy had one passion and that was sewing. Being
so poor, she put her needlecraft skills to use and altered hand-me-down clothes
to fit her and made herself a small pair of thin fabric shoes. Oh, and how she
wished those shoes were real leather and made by a cobbler. She would do
anything to be in a better pair of shoes or have more friends.
One day as Peggy walked to school, she met an old man.
He was a ragged poor gypsy and asked Peggy if she could spare a slice of her
lunch bread or a bit of cheese to soothe his starving, aching stomach. Peggy noticed
that the other children were not impressed by her listening to the old man, and
she abruptly replied, “Why would I want to talk to you, get away from me !”
But Peggy did not know that beneath his outer skin, this was a bad spirit come to test her. To see if she had a good heart that was broken
in some way. If not, he would leave her alone as his ways would not work with her.
This girl was no better than himself. As Peggy walked away, he whispered this
under his breath “ You shall beg my dear and no one shall hear, for your heart
is the same as mine, and you be what you are forever!”
Peggy joined the other children who patted her on the back and let her walk to school with them this once. How good it felt to be accepted at last.
On Saturday morning Peggy was helping her mother with
the weekly washing when she felt stiff and tired. She went to her bedroom and lay
on her bed. Bit by bit she felt a numb heavy sensation from head to toe, and then
she started to shrink and shrink. Her arms became shorter until they had completely
disappeared. Her legs just sat there like two bits of wood. “I am made of wood!
“ She cried, but no one heard her.
After a while, her mother came into the room and all
she found was a gypsy clothes peg lying on the girl's ragged bed. “She has run
away,” said the mother “Who shall do all the cleaning and washing now, oh well,
at least we have one less mouth to feed” And with that, the mother flung the
clothes peg in a bag and hung the bag on the back of the kitchen door.
All night Peggy lay there surrounded by other little
pegs. They all whimpered and cried. The noise whilst not loud enough for humans
to hear, was unbearable. After some time, Peggy asked them if they were little
children too. After hearing their stories, she realized that they all had one
thing in common. The gypsy beggar. And then she started to pray and asked God
to forgive her cruel words. After all, who was she to not share her bread
with a beggar when she knew hardship herself so well? After a while the
other pegs tried to stop her, they insulted her and ruffled about trying to
distract her. But Peggy carried on, and on until daylight came.
Sometime later, her mother took the bag and pegged the
family's freshly washed clothes on the washing line to dry. Peggy felt useful
and it was invigorating to feel the sun on her. But what was this, a little bee
had decided to sit on her top as she swayed in the morning breeze. The bee's
feet tiggled her and Peggy blessed the bee for bringing such happiness to her
day. When the bee was settled and sound asleep, Peggy began to pray again gently
into the wind.
Peggy looked down at herself. She was no longer a wooden gypsy peg but
standing next to a sparkling stream. Her
ragged old clothes had changed into a beautiful white day dress and on her feet
were sturdy brown well-made leather boots. And who was this woman before her,
who looked at Peggy with love in her eyes?
“ Come on Peggy,” said the woman, "your father, the cobbler is waiting for you, and we shall all be having high tea after we have given thanks for all that is” Peggy followed the woman into a thatched roof cottage and washed her hands in the basin with lavender soap. If this is a new beginning, Peggy said to herself, I shall never stop learning.
What can we learn from the above story that may
help us after others have treated us badly?
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