Post by pionur on Nov 5, 2021 1:14:03 GMT
The Miller and The Fool
There was once a poor Miller who lived with his wife in a small cottage at the end of a field
The Miller had a sad looking field with dead crops and sad stalks of unsuccessful harvest, ever so failing in his attempts to ever be a competent farmer
One day the Miller was walking at the edge of his land along his crumbling stone fence to happen upon an extravagantly dressed fool layed out on the fence gazing towards the sky. The Fool appeared to be wearing a white mask that had a fixed smile ever so displayed from ear to ear.
"What are you doing in my land, Fool? Don't you have some king or lord to amuse somewhere?" Asked the Miller
The fool sat up from the fence and looked toward the miller with the fixed smile on his mask "Oh, I was just out for a walk and saw this ever so comfortable fence."
The Miller was puzzled, why was a fool in this part of the land? This land had nothing but poor farmers and the occasional trader.
It was a bad omen to see a lone fool not in the company of some sort of nobility
"Then you must leave, I wish not to have a fool be near my already bad field harvest in the eyes of the gods.." Said the Miller
The Fool put his hand in his pocket and handed the miller a handful of beans "Take these beans and plant them, your bad harvest will be no more."
The Miller knew something was afoot.. a fool offering a solution to his problems? it was too good to be true.
"What do you want for these beans, then?" said the Miller
The Fool tilted his head, placing them into the Miller's hand "I want the finest piece of jewelry your wife owns."
So the Miller, not having much to lose in his mind took the beans and took his wife's best necklace giving it to the fool.
Later that day the Miller planted the beans, and the very next day he woke up to a field full of a bountiful harvest. The Miller and his wife indulged themselves on the food, enjoying a good couple months.
Unfortunately for the Miller, his wife began to indulge in excess becoming very fat, unable to walk on her own.
The Miller looked out his window one day to see the fool once again on his stone fence, laying in the sun. So the Miller went over to the Fool.
"Thanks to your beans our harvests are now plentiful, however my wife is very greedy and fat now.. can you help me?" Implored the Miller
The Fool sat up and laughed "One must not over indulge, I will make your wife skinny and beautiful- however you must name your first born Bethlehem in honor of me."
The Miller agreed and the very next day the Miller's wife was no longer fat, and appeared to be the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. The next couple of years panned out well for the Miller, the fields and harvest flourished, and The Miller's wife gave birth to a healthy daughter- growing into adulthood within the next couple years. Once the Miller's daughter entered adulthood she began to show signs of being touched in the head- becoming violent and attacking the Miller and his wife, breaking things, screaming, laughing, every sort of mental discourse imaginable.
The Old Miller looked out his window one day to see the fool once again, going out to talk to him "My daughter has grown to become a lunatic, Fool.. why has this curse befallen my family" Said the Miller to the Fool.
The Fool laughed at the Miller "Oh, Miller- I can fix your daughter if you give me your harvest." Said the Fool.
The Miller Shook his head "But we will not survive the winter if you take our harvest!" exclaimed the Miller.
The Fool turned and walked away, wagging his finger "Then you shall endure worse than what already was."
The Miller was perplexed, eventually going to bed for the night to find incredible pestilence had overtaken his field, the soil appeared dry- the stalks rotten with bugs and locusts eating the scraps away from the Miller's precious land..
Eventually Winter came- and with it a terrible storm that locked the Miller's family within their cottage. The Miller waking up to his daughter feasting upon his dead wife- The Miller attempted to stop his daughter, however she clubbed him over the head with a piece of his wife, escaping into the icy night, laughing manically.
The Miller went to look out his window to see his daughter running away with what looked to be an extravagantly dressed fool in the white blanket of snow.