A Fable

Setting: England circa 10th century - Christmas Eve.

With snow quietly deepening the husband and wife struggled on. Their companion slowly followed them. Approaching the Inn the husband knocked on the door.

It was opened by a large robust individual who was the owner. Looking down at the pair he asked what they wanted. " To have the warmth of your fireplace and a room for you see our companion is near giving new life. " The owner looked behind them and saw the most beautiful snow white bear which had a black nose being the only other colour.

The owner denied them entry and related the reason: " This village is cursed by ogres living in the mountains. They have on these Eve always come to feast. Were we not to accomodate them they would destroy the harvest leaving us withought food for the winter. "

At this point his wife appeared and seeing the bear's soft eyes asked her husband " perhaps we would be able to hide them behind the fireplace until the ogres have left at dawn which is their habit. " The owner allowed them in stating " not a peep from any of you. "

As the ogres came to dinner the man and woman behind the fireplace were appalled at their behavior. Grunting cursing spilling both food and drink they ravaged the dinner.

At one point one of the ogres looked at the fireplace and saw a black nub of something sticking out. Curious he went over and gave it a harsh kick. The bear roared and chased all of them out into the cold night.

The next year while the owner was gathering firewood for Christmas Eve's dinner he heard a snuffle in the woods and a voice saying " I see you are gathering wood to heat the inn for our dinner this year once more.

" Oh no " was the reply " this is of course for the dinner but your not invited. " The ogre bellowed " if you do not feed us then we shall destroy both the crops and the village. " The owner calmly went about his business.

The ogre stepped out and grabbed the man roughly. His foul breath enveloped the man. " Why ever do you think we will not do this for we have had the dinner for many centuries now? "

The owner stepping back and with a calmness that surprised the ogre replied " do you recall the man his wife and the bear? " " of course we were chased away by that retched bear in the middle of the night. "

" Well " stated the owner " you see the bear gave birth that night and left us a cub. "

-- Jean Bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), June 01, 2002

Answers

Come on, pal. Read the first word at the top of this home page.

Don't waste space and people's time with foolishness like the above. I hope that the Moderator will delete this thread, which has nothing to do with Catholicism.

-- + (+@+.+), June 02, 2002.

Do not know who you are as plus and minus = zero. This forum needs a new breath of life for it has been stymied these past years. Thank you for your comment nonetheless.

-- Jean Bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), June 02, 2002.

"This forum needs a new breath of life for it has been stymied these past years. "

The story was interesting to read - but I failed to get the point. Was there a moral? What was the punch-line? I think that you are honestly trying to "liven" up this forum, Jean. But with all due respect, I fail to see how this story was a "breath of life" in the least. Besides for it being set on "Christmas eve", there was no Christian overtone (or undertone for that matter). I think in order to "liven" up this forum, it would be more effective to post Catholic stories (they too can be creative if you wish). After all, this is a Catholic forum.

Well, I applaud your attempt and I am happy that you are trying to liven this forum up.

In Christ.

-- jake huether (Jake.huether@lamrc.com), June 03, 2002.

Jake,

I tried stretching it to Christianity, and if you make the mother bear symbolize God, Jesus could be the cub, BUT, where it falls apart for me is in the specifics of the story itself. Why would the mother leave her newborn cub with the villagers? How could a newborn cub scare off a gang of ogres? If a new cub COULD scare off those ogres (and keep in mind a whole village would have no trouble killing a bear cub), why wouldn't the villagers *themselves* have chased away the ogres? For that matter, while the ogres might have been caught off gaurd initially, why wouldn't they have gone back to their lairs, gathered their weapons of war and come back to fight the bear and the village the first time? Ogres are supposed to be big, mean, monsters, and here they can't even fight off a bear?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 03, 2002.

If we know Jean Bouchard, we can understand this as a slap at the Church. The ogres are Catholic priests. The Bear must be Mary-- who is Jean's choice to drive out all the priests for her newborn cub, Jesus. Naturally, Bouchard is the courageous Owner:

''The owner denied them entry and related the reason: " This village is cursed by ogres''--

He is on the side of the ''cub''. In fact to have it Jean's way, the cub depends on the ''Owner'' for survival. Because with all those bad Catholics, [Who] always come to feast. --Were we not to accomodate them they would destroy the harvest leaving us withought food for the winter.'' the Church would have plenty. It's a parable; Satan-style. Destroy the work that Christ has done for centuries in the Church. ''. . . foul breath enveloped that good man. Why ever do you think we will not do this for we have had the dinner for many centuries now?'' He means the successors of the Holy Apostles. To Jean, they've been exploiting us for centuries.

We aren't buying your fantasy parables, Jean. Why haven't you been to confession? You must be awfully ''foul-breathed'' yourself by this time.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), June 03, 2002.

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), June 03, 2002.

Well Eugene,

I've got to hand it to you, yours sounds hands-down closer to the truth than mine! I don't know if Jean will agree, but I suppose we'll see. Good work.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 03, 2002.

We can count on Bouchard for the alternate explanation. He is not ''calcified'', his style is more elastic.

I found it revealing the Noble Owner -is this an Inn? (I thought there was no room in the Inn.) The owner is '' a large robust individual'' who LOOKS DOWN on the pair of bears. He's larger than they; as befits the self-image of a free-lance, independent giant-killer like Jean. Me? I'm just a calcified old jaw-bone of an ass. But there's life in them old bones YET. God bless you two!

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), June 03, 2002.

You guys are funnier then a drunken nun. So shallow so little to create with. Obviously pearl before swine.

-- Jean Bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), June 03, 2002.

Jean writes:

"You guys are funnier then a drunken nun."

Now you stereotype nuns as drunkards? How creative you are. Is this the example you'd like others to emulate?

Jean writes:

"So shallow so little to create with. Obviously pearl before swine."

Jean, the the pearl that Jesus speaks of (Matthew 7:6) is not "creativity" (nor your message to the world). The pearl is the message of Jesus Christ--that's what is precious! You may pride yourself on being "creative;" but, even the devil himself is creative. Creativity is not a virtue, ipso facto. It is a tool with which to worship God.

God gives us creativity as a gift.

Flaunting creativity is pride.

Pride is sin--an act contrary to the Will of God.

It appears that you value your own "creativity" more than the message of Jesus. You would do well to pray for the God to bless you with the virtue of humility.

Enjoy,

Mateo

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), June 03, 2002.

Jean,

You've really disappointed me here, I thought you could come up with a better response than that. That was a very poor effort.

Eugene,

Rereading your analysis, I must say I'm still impressed. You managed to put a cork into Jean too, so you must have hit pretty close to home.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 04, 2002.