The Charcoal Burner
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The Charcoal Burner
Many good insights could have to give way to your delighful children: "Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories," says John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester.Married to a Nymph
A CHARCOAL burner was out in the woods working his kilns. One evening a handsome
woman appeared and said she did not know the way - easygoing and nice she looked. He thought
that she should stay with him. She agreed, but made the promise that whenever he had been
away someplace, he would first knock three times on a certain tree before coming home. She
pointed it out. After that she stayed with him for three years. They had three
children.But one day he had been drinking much Scotch whisky, he forgot about the knocking. When he got to the kilns, he saw how she really was with her nose and claws and her tail dipped in a bucket of water. He got very frightened - he was living with a wood sprite. He turned to an old Finn and asked him for advice.
"Take her and the children with you on a sleigh," said the Finn. "Sit on the horse yourself, but do not tie any tight knots in the harness. When you come to the middle of the frozen lake, ride away from them: get shaggy and hairy for yourself."
The charcoal burner sobered up somewhat and next went back and knocked on the tree as he usually did, and he found her handsome as usual. He mounted the horse and invited all the four of them for a ride. When they got to the middle of the frozen lake, many wolves appeared on the ice. It dawned on them that he was going to make a sacrifice.
"Have pity, or I will call my brothers and relatives." his wife said in the wind.
He did not, he chose differently, and next rode off after letting the sleigh loose. When she saw it, she called for help and thundered like cannonballs, hitting the ice. It was blue, Swedish ice. Yet the charcoal burner rode away unscathed; his wife and children were devoured by wolves.
[Adapted from the Swedish] [#3.2].
Nymph Insights
Man and blossoming wife had better be fairly congenial for things to work well.Antopomorphic
Says a worthy Sufi: "I found I understood the language of angels and animals and
went up to an ant. "Do you believe in God?" I asked."Of course," the ant said.
"How is your God, then?"
"Why, we have only one sting, but the Big Queen, she has two." - [Freely rendered from a story by sheikh Idries Shah. Bless him.].
Comments
Enervating wolves can cry and wail so much for "Mother in the sky", as they sit on a hill-top - a "moony thing".
Maybe Yogananda's "cry-for-God-till-She-Comes-and-She-will" is an outlet that works to harvest you: After some thirty years the master we inspect, was positioned
on top of plenty of followers, due to collective efforts of devotees, even fooling.
Assertiveness
Triboulet was jester to King Francis I. A great lord, offended at his sallies,
threatened
to flog him to death. Triboulet went to complain to his master."If he does it," said the king, "I'll hang him a quarter of an hour after."
"Thank you, cousin," piped the jester, "but if it's all the same to you, couldn't you do it a quarter of an hour before?"
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Literature
Ak: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Man's Eternal Quest. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1975.
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