A Fable by Kylene J. Monaghan and Reid S. Monaghan
Once upon a time there lived a small boy with his poor family. He lived near the woods and he loved nature. On a daily basis he would travel to the woods and think. He would think about his life and all the goings on in it. His mother was kind as was his father. They lived in a tiny lodge and had only one neighbor.
Their neighbor, above them on the hilltop, however, was very rich. She had two snobby children, a boy and a girl. Each day Jacob, the poor little boy, would walk up to their house and ask if they would come to play in his special hideout in the woods. Every day they would reject him and rudely slam the door in his face.
One day they said they would like to go. He took them to his hidden hideout where all his prized possessions were kept. He asked them if they would like some snacks. They said they wanted some. So Jacob hurriedly ran off and gathered a little snack for them. You must remember that he was a very small boy and could not run very fast.
While he was away, the two rich children took a treasured box of the boy’s belongings and stole away with it back to their house. When Jacob returned, he dropped the snacks in astonishment. He had been robbed! The rich kids were hoping Jacob would be sad and hurt by the loss of his things.
When Jacob went home, he was indeed sad. Then something happened. He saw his mother’s face and he cried. His father came and listened to the story. In their kindness and love for one another, Jacob almost forgot that the kids had stolen from him. He realized what a kind family he had and how much they meant to him.
Around the same time, the rich children opened the box expecting to find some wonderful treasures to add to their own. What did they find? A collection of pictures Jacob had saved of his family throughout his life and a few rag dolls from when he was a baby. At this moment the kids heard their Mom and Dad screaming at one another in a big fight. The kids threw Jacob’s things on the ground seeing them as worthless. “What junk! Dumb little, poor kid!” they said.
And Jacob, went to bed a little richer that night.