Stasia's Place Of Grace

Thursday, September 26, 2002

 

To Quote...

"Great oaks from little acorns grow."
"Fables", Jean de la Fontaine ("Aesop"), 1621-1695

But also remember this parable, by the same author:

The Oak and the Reed

The Oak spoke one day to the Reed
"You have good reason to complain;
A Wren for you is a load indeed;
The smallest wind bends you in twain.
You are forced to bend your head;
While my crown faces the plains
And not content to block the sun
Braves the efforts of the rains.
What for you is a North Wind is for me but a zephyr.
Were you to grow within my shade
Which covers the whole neighbourhood
You'd have no reason to be afraid
For I would keep you from the storm.
Instead you usually grow
In places humid, where the winds doth blow.
Nature to thee hath been unkind."
"Your compassion", replied the Reed
"Shows a noble character indeed;
But do not worry: the winds for me
Are much less dangerous than for thee;
I bend, not break. You have 'til now
Resisted their great force unbowed,
But beware."
As he said these very words
A violent angry storm arose.
The tree held strong; the Reed he bent.
The wind redoubled and did not relent,
Until finally it uprooted the poor Oak
Whose head had been in the heavens
And roots among the dead folk.

And finally...

The Acorn and the Pumpkin

What God does he does well. Proof comes straightway to mind.
Without our having to search through creation:
In pumpkins it�s right there to find.
A Countryman, in contemplation
Of this plant, with stem so tiny on such bulky fruit,
Said, "What thought could the Maker of all this have had?
He�s put this pumpkin in a place that�s oh so bad!
I�d have hung it, it�s more astute,
From one of these oaks here, begad!
It would have been the proper way:
Like fruit, like tree is what I always say.
It�s too bad, Garo, that you did not participate.
In plans of Him preached about by your curate.
All would have been better off: for example, why not serve
The Acorn, which is smaller than my little finger, by a lot,
By hanging it down in this spot?
God was mistaken: the more I do observe
Such fruits placed thus, the more to Garo it�s clear:
Things have been mixed up right here."
These thoughts were quite a burden for our chap.
"One�s kept awake," he said, "by such a brilliant mind, I know."
Under an oak he settled down at once to take a little nap.
An Acorn fell; the sleeper�s nose stung from the blow
And he woke up. Lifting his hand to his face at this boon,
He found the Acorn, still trapped in the hair on his chin.
The bruise on his nose obliged him to change his tune.
"Oh, oh, I�m bleeding!" he said. "And what a mess I�d be in
If what has dropped from this tree had had a heavier mass,
And this Acorn had been of the pumpkin class!
God didn�t will it so. No doubt at all, He�s not a dunce;
The reason why I�ve fully figured out."
Praising God for all things about,
Garo rushed back home at once.

---

Ceramic whorl support spindle and lap bowl from Woodland Woolworks.
Fiber is cashmere from Rovings.

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