Stories About Hitting the Mark: The Parts of the House Argue
Welcome
Heart Tales is a monthly newsletter for people on an adventure toward wholeness. It is published by Jim Cyr, storyteller, author, and crisis intervention specialist.
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Introduction
Yesterday you received the first story in our new series stories called “Stories About Missing and Hitting the Mark.” “The Whales, the Dolphins, and the Herring” was a story about “missing the mark.” Today’s story, “The Parts of the House Argue,” is a tale that offers the counterpoint of “hitting the mark.”
The Parts of the House Argue
A large family once lived together in a nipa palm tree house. One day the people in the house began to quarrel about who was the most important member of the family. Before long the parts of the house began to quarrel too.
The poles that supported the house far off the ground started grumbling, One said, “I am the most important because I was driven into the earth first..” The rest replied, “We are all just as important as you because without us your could not do your job of keeping the house off the ground.”
As the poles quarreled about their importance, the floor supports shouted, “No one would care about the poles if we were not here to connect you!”
The cross supports cried out to the floor supports, “Without us, you would wobble and sag!”
The floor sniped to the cross supports and the floor supports, “Without me, neither of you would have a reason to exist.”
The woven bamboo walls chimed in nastily to the floor, “Who would walk on you if we were not here to create rooms?”
The roof beams replied to the walls, “You could not stand up if it were not for our support!”
The bamboo ceiling shouted to the beams, “I hold the walls together!”
The palm-leaf roof chided each part of the house, “I keep the rain from rotting all of you!”
As they argued, they realized that none could win the argument since they were all of great use to the house. When with one breath the parts of the house proclaimed, “None is important without the other,” quarreling between the members of the family in the house ceased. Cured of misfortune, the family lived in peace and harmony from that day forward.
“The Parts of the House” is a tale from the Philippines found in Wisdom Tales from Around the World by Heather Forest.
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Thought to Ponder
What brought the parts of the house into harmony?
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Your Comments Welcome
Post your comments in the comment box or email them to me at jim@hearttales.net
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Heart Tales News
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About Jim & Heart Tales
The true spirit of my work is to lead people on a life-changing adventure toward wholeness by connecting their hearts to their true selves, to others, and to God, through stories of healing, wisdom, and faith. My life-changing adventure toward wholeness includes performances of folk and fairy tales, sacred stories, and personal stories, and workshops on how to tell stories in therapeutic settings.
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