The First Tale - The Tale Of The Three Rules - Day 13
Once there was a boy named Nicholas...
Actually, that is not true. There have been a lot of boys named Nicholas. Nicholas is a good name. It comes from the Greek words meaning "victory for the people". You might be named Nicholas. Nicholas is a nice name. Unless, of course, someone named Nicholas was mean to you. Then you might not like the name Nicholas. But this boy was nice. He was a good Nicholas. He liked his name because it was his uncle's name and he liked his uncle. His uncle was the overseer at the church and everyday after school, Nicholas would go visit his uncle. Today was no different.
Nicholas squirmed as he listened to the teacher. He thought school would never end. It wasn't that he didn't like learning, he liked learning very much. This week's teacher though, was very boring. They just talked and talked and it was all stuff Nicholas knew already. Finally, the teacher talked himself to sleep and all the students quietly snuck out and left class for the day.
Nicholas ran by the house to grab a snack before going to see his uncle. He saw one of Father's ships had returned and he wondered what new and exciting food would be waiting for him. As he poked around the kitchen he saw the most amazing thing. There, in the bowl where the new fruit was always placed, were gold oranges! Gold oranges! He loved when the ships brought back oranges, they were such a special treat. He could only imagine what a gold one tasted like.
Nicholas peeked around to see if anyone was looking, and then slowly picked up one of the oranges. It was very heavy, much heavier than any orange he had ever seen before. It was also very smooth to the touch. Even the little bumps of the skin were very slick. And it was hard. Very hard. Nicholas tried to find a spot to start peeling the orange.
"Nicholas! What are you doing!"
Oh no, his mom had seen him. He new he was supposed to ask before eating anything new. He hoped he wasn't in too much trouble. He slowly looked at his mother's face, to see how much trouble he was in.
She was laughing! Laughing really hard. She was laughing so hard she couldn't talk!
"Nicholas," she giggled, "Did you just try to eat that orange?"
"Well, I tried to, but it is very hard. I can't even find a place to start peeling it." For some reason that made his mother laugh even harder.
"Ahh," she said, gasping for breath, "Oh my. Oh my. Let me sit down for a minute. Oh my goodness. Nicholas, bring me that orange. Ahh, whew, wow. That was a good laugh. Oh my. Nicholas, my dear son, take a look at this orange."
Nicholas looked very closely
"What do you see."
"Well," said Nicholas, "it looks like an orange."
"Yes, and what else?"
"Umm, well, it is hard and smooth and heavy."
"And..?"
"It is gold."
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, it is gold."
"It is a gold orange?"
"Yes Nicholas, it is a gold orange."
"So..., is it tasty," Nicholas asked his mother.
"Oh goodness me no!" his mother started laughing again. "Nicholas, my silly son, it is a gold orange. It is made out of solid gold. All three of them are. One of the local artists was so grateful for the oranges your father managed to get her that she made these three solid gold oranges for your father. They are a special present. "
At that, Nicholas started to laugh. To think he had tried to eat solid gold oranges. Why, money was made out of gold. He had been trying to eat money! How silly!
After the two of them calmed down, Nicholas asked his mom if he could have a snack. She set him down with a plate of cheese and some dates. Dates were a sweet fruit from a far away land and one of his favorites. Sometimes on his birthday his mother would make him cookies with a date filling and he loved eating them with a glass of milk. Suddenly he remembered that he didn't have time for any more. He wanted to see his uncle at the church before the end of the day. He grabbed one last date and headed out the door.
As he scampered into the church, he heard his uncle talking to a group of people. They were asking him all kinds of questions about what was the right thing to do about all sorts of grown-up problems. It seemed so overwhelming to Nicholas. But his uncle always had the right answer. He was so wise. Finally, his uncle finished talking to the grown-ups and came over to where Nicholas was impatiently waiting.
"Good afternoon Nicholas, how are you this fine day."
"I am doing quite well uncle, how are you?"
"I am doing well also my favorite nephew. I see your father had some dates come in on his ships today."
Nicholas quickly smeared his sticky lips with the back of his sleeve.
"Yes, they are quite good uncle."
His uncle invited him to follow as he walked around closing up the church for the day.
"Uncle," Nicholas said, "Lots of people ask you questions don't they?"
"Yes," said the grown-up Nicholas.
"And Uncle, you always have the right answer." said the little Nicholas.
"Well, I don't know if it is the right answer, but I try to answer with wisdom."
"So, what I don't know, is how you know so much. I mean, you must've learned an awful lot. It just seems like there is so much to know, I don't know how I'll ever get as smart as you.
Nicholas' uncle smiled," Would you like to know a secret?
"A secret, sure I would"
"I answer every problem using three rules."
"Three rules! Is that all?"
"Yes, just three rules."
"And that answers every question?"
"Yes, the three rules can tell you the right thing to do for every question."
Little Nicholas was silent for a little while as they kept walking.
"Uncle?"
"Yes, Nicholas?"
"Could you tell me the three rules?"
Nicholas' uncle smiled again, "Here sit next to me.
Nicholas sat.
" Now listen close, Rule one is Up. "
" Up? "
" Yes. Up. Look up. That is where we look when we think of God. Rule one is look up and love God with everything that you are. That is always rule one. Up. "
"Ohhh, I can see how that is a good rule. Love God with everything that you are. What's rule two Uncle?"
"Rule two is Around."
"Around?"
"Yes, Love everyone around you the same way you love yourself."
"Oh, Around. I get it. Love everyone around you the same way you love yourself."
"Yes, Up and Around."
"Wow, those are good rules Uncle. Wait a minute. Love Everyone around you? Sometimes the people around me are not very nice. How am I supposed to love everyone?"
"Well, that is one of the things we learn to do as we follow the rules. Let me see if I can help you understand. Tell me, when you do something bad, how do you want people to treat you?"
"Usually I don't really mean to be bad. Most of the time it is an accident, or I misunderstood. I never really want to get into trouble."
"Exactly, so if someone does something that you don't like, it is helpful to consider that maybe they didn't mean to be bad. That it was an accident or they misunderstood. That is what it means to love them the way you love yourself."
"Ohhh. I get it. That's hard"
His uncle's smile grew wider. "I never said the rules were easy. I just said they answer the questions."
Nicholas sat and thought about what his uncle had said for a moment.
"Wait a minute."
"Yes?"
"You said there were three. What's the third rule?"
"Ahh yes. I guess I did say there were three. The third rule is Love. Always remember Love."
"Up, Around and Love. Those are good rules uncle. Can you really answer any question with those three rules?"
"You really can, nephew of mine. Whenever you have a question, and you are trying to decide the right thing to do, just remember those three rules. Up, love God with everything you are. Around, love everyone around you the way you love yourself, and Love, always remember to love. "
Nicholas smiled to himself. His uncle had shared a secret with him and now he would be as wise as his uncle! Today was turning out to be an excellent day. That was when he remembered the gold oranges. As they finished closing up and walking home for dinner, Nicholas told his uncle about the gold oranges and how he had tried to eat them. Then Nicholas laughed and his uncle laughed, and his belly shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
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