Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 20 January 2004

20 January 2004

There once was a child whose parents worked hard all day and night to provide for him but were treated harshly and paid only two beans a day. They tried to reason with their master, saying, "We work hard for you! We have never made trouble for you! Pray treat us fairly and pay what we deserve." But their master said, "Get back to work! Because you have wasted time begging, you only get only one bean today!"

The child had all he needed but one day the boy next door was given a new playhouse by his parents, and all the boys for miles around came to play there. "Please," begged the child of his parents, "please give me a new playhouse, like the boy next door, so that I will have new playmates too." But his parents said, "We have only one bean. We give you all we can, but we cannot buy you a new playhouse."

Well, the child cried and cried and all his friends stayed home. The boy next door taunted him, saying, "See my playhouse and all my new friends! Who are you, now that your friends are gone?" Again the child begged his parents for a new playhouse, but again they told him, "We have only one bean. We care for you all we can, but we cannot buy you a new playhouse."

At this the child flew into a rage and ran away to the boy next door. "My parents don't care for me at all!" he said. "Please can I see your playhouse?" Well, the boy next door was delighted. He didn't care for the child at all, but took him into his playhouse and, with all the boys for miles around, taunted him all day long, saying, "Nobody cares for you! Nobody cares for you!"

The child wanted to run away again, but he couldn't go back home, so he tried to laugh along with the other boys. All day long they taunted him and all day long he bit his lip to stop himself crying. At last he could stand it no more and ran back home to his parents, ready to say sorry, and wanting them to hug him tight. And when he got home what did he find but a new playhouse! His heart jumped for joy and he ran inside to give thanks to his parents.

But when he reached the parlour his heart stopped still and his blood ran cold. Their bellies shrunk and their limbs withered and blue, there lay his parents, dead!

On the table the breadboard lay empty. In the pantry was no food. In the grate was no fire. The little child's parents loved him so dearly that they had bought him a playhouse with the last bean they had, even when they were hungry and cold, even when they would die without food and warm. The child wept bitterly, for now he would be taken to the poorhouse as an orphan, and his beautiful new playhouse would be left to rot.