The Lady with the corns and a Fool

O  nce upon a time, there was a selfish woman with deadly corns on her feet, they called her Bunions. There was her best friend who they called Sealy, she would always

share and give you her last. There was also a generous man named Beckham. Beckham used

to do a lot for Sealy, even Bunions and her friends; although they didn’t really need help.

Bunions had a good paying job working with her mom and always had an automobile. Her

best friend was not as fortunate as she had a job working for Bunions mom that paid too

little. Bunions mom paid Sealy $3 per hour and paid her daughter $8. One time Sealy had

a granola bar. She saved this granola bar all day because it would be her dinner. When it

was her dinner time, she opened the granola bar and in walked Bunions. Can I have half;

you can have some of my dinner when I cook. Sealy shared her half. When it was Bunions

dinner time, she did not tell Sealy and by the time she had realized that dinner should’ve

been served, it was all gone. That’s why they call Bunions selfish.

Another day, generous man saw how Sealy traveled to and from work in flip flops during the winter. By luck, Sealy walked down Beckham’s street. “Hey” Beckham shouted, “come on over here.”  Yes sir, Sealy replied nervously. “Now I see how you struggle up and down that hill every day, I’m going to take you to buy an automobile tomorrow.” Sealy was so excited. She ran all the way home. “Why are you glowing so much” asked Bunions as she made ouch faces while walking to sit in her chair. “No, what’s wrong with you?” replied Sealy. Sealy was puzzled because Bunions corns never hurt her before. “My automobile went dead on me. I had to walk 2 miles home.” Sealy began to snicker. “Well” Sealy said cautiously, “Beckham is taking me to buy an automobile tomorrow morning, you should come along—I’m sure he will buy you one too.”

The next morning, Bunions woke up and did not bother to wake Sealy; she just happened to wake up on her own. “Is Beckham outside?” Sealy asked as she peaked through the only bathroom door that was being occupied by the selfish woman with the corns. “Yep” Bunions answered as she shut the water off to exit the shower. “Ok, wait for me, I’m going to jump in and out and I will be down in a minute.”

While Sealy rushed in the shower, Bunions quickly threw her clothes on and left. All within 5 minutes of a shower and getting dressed, Beckham and Bunions were gone. Bunions came home with a pretty white Cadillac. That night, Sealy’s feet were hurting, when she looked down; she saw 2 big red corns breaking through the skin of her big toe. The next day, Sealy started off down the hill again to go to work, this time she was limping. Bunions drove right past her in her new, pretty white Cadillac.

Story of Choice: The tiger, the Brahman, and the jackal

This story was about a tiger that got himself caught in a trap. A Brahman walked by and saw the trapped tiger. He freed the tiger on the condition that the tiger wouldn’t eat him. Of course, the tiger swore that he wouldn’t eat the Brahman in order to be freed. When the tiger is freed, he wants to eat the Brahman and he pleads for his life. In order to save his life, he asks a tree, a buffalo, the road, and the jackal what they thought of the tiger’s decision to eat him. All except for the jackal replied that the Brahman was a fool while giving their own accounts of how they are treated. The jackal played as if he couldn’t interpret the Brahmans’ story, all the way back to the spot where the Brahman first freed the tiger. When the tiger saw how dumb the jackal was, he became immensely bent on getting the jackal to understand the story. The jackal got the tiger to act out the scenes, thus, leading back into the cage and locking back in there.

The story of the tiger, the Brahman, and the jackal is an Indian fairy tale that’s just an example of things that happen in everyday life; no good deed goes unpunished! The Brahman does a good deed by helping the tiger escape and then he is punished because the tiger who swore that he wouldn’t eat the Brahman now wants to eat the Brahman. He is then saved by a jackal that plays the hero until he decides to keep matters as they were. This story has become worldwide in various forms. In some cases, the animal trapped is a wolf, or a crocodile. I couldn’t find the time period of this story but it seems to be pretty ancient.

Three themes that I could apply to this story are:

1.     No good deed goes unpunished- again because the Brahman wanted to save the tiger who wanted to eat him. He was then saved and eaten by the jackal that tricked him. In the Lady with the Corn and the Fool, Sealy did a good deed by offering information that could’ve gained her a new car but Bunions stepped on her toes by leaving her so that she would be sure to get an automobile.

2.    If it looks like a pretty stupid idea, then it usually is! - A tiger who is a savage beast wants the Brahman to let him out. The holy man has no idea how he got there. His first thought was that the tiger would try to eat him but he lets him out anyway. Now he is surprised that his first thought is coming true. Of course, someone greedier and cleverer intervenes and enjoys the taste of the Brahman who played the fool. In my story, Bunions already showed Sealy how selfish she was when she ate half of her granola bar, knowing that she had no intentions on sharing dinner with Sealy. Sealy ‘cautiously’ told Bunions about Beckhams’ plan for her because she already experienced Bunions selfishness and Bunions did it again. Sealy played the fool because she knew the outcome.  When we get those butterfly feelings in life, it’s usually our bodies telling us to really thing about our decisions because it might not be the right thing to do!