I read a collection of children's stories this week. One of my favorites was titled the Poor Man and the Flask of Oil. In the story, an poor man (we'll call him Thomas) is living next to a rather rich neighbor (we'll call him William) who sells oil and honey. After his neighbor gifts him with a flask of oil, all the poor man can think about is selling his flask of oil and seeing what he could buy with it, how much money he'd make, how he'd spend it and so on. Before he knows it, his vision for his future is shattered as he breaks the bottle on accident while imagining all he could do if he sold the bottle. Although this was a short story, it did teach a good lesson about not being too greedy and being patient to take things as they come. He was already thinking so much ahead and got too ahead of himself, resulting in the loss of his precious bottle of oil. In this week's storytelling assignment, I want to expand the story a bit so that readers can really get to see how getting too far ahead of himself cost him in the end.
It was a beautiful sunny day as Thomas walked out of his house to water his garden. He took great joy in coming out every morning to water it. Due to his diligent care, what resulted was a spectacular, colorful bed of flowers. He made his living on selling his flowers. Although it didn't give him an enormous income, it still provided him with just enough to keep living in his small house. As he made his way through the garden, he heard the sound of a door closing. He looked up and saw his neighbor, William, leaving his house to head off to work. Everybody in town knew William. He was a wealthy merchant who sold the best oil and honey in the land. He and Thomas were friendly with each other, as neighbors should be. Just the other day, Thomas had brought over some pastries he had gotten from the bakery to give to William.
Meanwhile, William looked up and saw that his neighbor was again watering his garden. He chuckled to himself as he looked at Thomas focusing on his flowers, careful not to give them too much water. William was on his way to work but stopped in his tracks as he remembered that he had intended to repay Thomas for giving him pastries the other day, instead making his way to the garden.
"Good morning, Thomas! The flowers look incredible. You have all the colors of the rainbow in your front yard. It looks absolutely splendid!"
Thomas smiled at at his neighbor, happy that his garden was getting so many compliments.
"Why thank you, William! This garden is like my own child. I have to look after it with care, and look how they all grow!"
William, nodded, admiring how beautiful the flowers looked.
"Say, Thomas. I'm off to work but I wanted to give you this. It's the new oil I'm selling. It's yet to be on the market, but as my neighbor who is always generous to me, I wanted to give you this as a gift. I hope you enjoy it! It can be used for almost anything. Hair care to cooking! It's extremely versatile. Take good care of it, as it is still not on any stores' shelves yet! I'll see you later, my friend!"
William's gift to Thomas (Image Source).
Thomas watched as his neighbor headed off to work, speechless that he had just received such a lavish gift. He looked down at the bottle of oil, almost glowing in the morning sunlight. He walked as fast as his feet would take him and heading into his house, being careful not to drop the bottle. He walked into his house and put it on the top shelf in his kitchen. Although William had told Thomas all about the uses of the oil, the only thing Thomas could focus on was on its price and scarcity in the market. This flask could be his gateway to making money and living comfortably, not having to worry about making the bare minimum selling his flowers.
"Oh my. This is one of the most expensive things I have ever owned. It's not even on the market yet! And I own it now! Oh, what I could do with it. I can sell it to the town next to ours. I know it's filled with such rich families. They would jump at a chance to own this oil. If I sold it to them, I could make a great chunk of money. From the money, I could buy the sheep I've always wanted to own. And you know what, after that, I can sell some of the sheep and have a big income. That way, I could finally marry a beautiful wife and be able to support her financially, with no worries! And we could have kids. Oh I could even have a son, who grows up to be tall and mighty. He could become a guard in our town, protecting everyone. And if anyone messes with him, he'd be able to fight them like this.......and like this.....and swing at them like this......and..."
At that moment, his arms were flailing in every which way, trying to act out how his future son might protect the town. As he was lost in his reverie, he failed to notice how close he was to the shelf on his kitchen wall. Within moments, his arm had hit the shelf and the flask of oil on top began teetering until, almost in slow motion, it spiraled in the air before coming crashing down on the floor. The glass shattered and the oil splattered everywhere, Thomas dropped down to look at what he had caused.
"Alas, because of my impatience and greed, I have ruined a precious gift that my neighbor has given me. I should not have been so hasty in trying to sell the flask. It was given out of the kindness of William's heart and all I could see was the money I could get from it. I should have appreciated what I have with my beautiful garden, providing me with a living. This flask of oil could have helped me in my daily life and now I can't even use an ounce of it. From this day on, I promise to be patient, be thankful for what I have, and not think too far ahead into the future as things could change at any moment."
~The End~
Bibliography.
"The Poor Man and the Flask" by Maude Barrows Dutton (1908). Web Source: The Baldwin Project.
