You Never Know

For more than 200 years, until 1865 slavery was legal and practiced throughout much of the United States. Today's Fable was taken from a real life story:

From his birth on a tobacco plantation James and his mother only had each other, for his father had been sold to another plantation, and James would never meet him.

And being owned as a slave meant either James or his mother could also be sold at any time.

But James' owner Julius Atkins and his wife Agnes liked him so well, that even though it was against the law to educate a slave they educated James with Mrs. Adkins, a former school teacher, serving as his primary teacher.

James not only learned to read and write but to do math as well. And as he had access to the Adkins' library, he became very well read, a real scholar.

He began to have big dreams for what he could do with his life, a life that did not belong to him.

This was why it was illegal to educate slaves, for education could only frustrate them with dreams that could never be fulfilled and it could lead to revolution or to slaves fleeing from their owners.

Yet despite being slaves James and his mother were living relatively well. That is until tragedy struck.

Advice From A Golden Yellow Butterfly

Sunday afternoon as I stood in the warm sunshine among gorgeous roses in bloom, a golden yellow butterfly flew by flitting here and there, absorbing the magnificence of all that surrounded him. As I watched him, the following story presented itself:

Wog The Wonder Dog

Wog The Wonder Dog was the best friend of 5 year old Calvin, who discovered Wog when he first began staying overnight with his grandparents, a kindly old gent named Kent and a lovely lady named Sady.

Rescuing A Lost Soul

"Give me your money," a desperate young man shouted at Oscar as he was about to close up his grocery store for the night. "I've got a gun."

"Don't do this," Oscar replied." You're going to be sorry for this money will never buy you peace or self-respect."

Stunned by the response, the would be robber was unable to utter another word as contradictory emotions swept through his mind. Anger, frustration, sympathy for himself, sympathy for his victim and most of all heartache for what he had stooped to overwhelmed him.

Finally he replied in a soft voice, "I don't know what else to do."

Herbie The Talking Chipmunk

It was 1956 and 10 year old Richie was sitting on the steps of his back porch looking at his baseball cards. Just then a voice chirped up, "Do you think the Dodgers can win the pennant?"