The Story Teller

Archive for February, 2011

Once there was a penniless couple who believe in the Lord and live according to his will. Destitute as they were, they were happy and contented. So, they were overwhelmed when they received an inheritance from a distant relative who just died and left them a big and comfortable house and an enormous piece of land.

Now, they have everything they could possibly wish for. Well, except for one thing. From the window of their house is a magnificent view of a beautiful meadow. However, the meadow is blocked by an ugly mountain, that the man feels irritated every time he looks out from the window and sees a mountain instead of the meadow that he knows lies behind it.

As he is man of deep faith and he read from the scripture that faith can move mountains, he prays every single day of his life that the Lord move the mountain away so he can see the meadow. Years passed, nothing happens, the mountain remains.

The wife, worried about his husband’s mood every time the latter looks out of the window, started to speak. She said that maybe he took the scripture very literally. Maybe he need not just pray but take the mountain away himself.

The man was confounded. How could he take that mountain away. It’s huge. And there’s only him to do it. The wife answered, his faith will move it for him. So, the man started shoveling and flattening the mountain. Several hours a day, he works. After a few years, it seems like nothing has changed. But he kept on. After 10 years, he looks out from his window and sees half of the mountain and half of the beautiful meadow behind it. Just looking at the meadow gives him strength and he keeps on shoveling and flattening his mountain.

After another 10 years, just a small mound is left of the once mighty mountain. And every day, the man feels a sense of accomplishment every time he looks out of his window and sees his beautiful meadow looking back at him.

I don’t know if this story is true. It’s a nice story, regardless..

Adapted from New Dynamics in English

Source of Photo: wallpaperbase.com

Few more days and it’s March. Time really flies fast. It’s summer already. What’s so special about summer? Well, it’s the peak season of tutorial and review centers like the one I work for. And believe me when I tell you, it’s dreadful scary.

It’s the time when a tutor like myself is stretched to my limits both physically and mentally. Crying won’t do any good and neither would cursing. It’s the time when you handle several students simultaneously, enrolled in different programs under various levels. For me, it’s the time I think of resigning from my post and look for finance jobs somewhere else. Yes, it is that difficult. It only lasts for 2 months, but it feels forever for us.

However, the feeling of accomplishment comes in the moment the summer ends. It feels as if you have survived an ordeal that makes you a better and stronger person.

Well, whatever it was I was willing to do for love, I already did. I got married.

I have always been a free spirit. Being a liberated woman, I was always the master of myself. I neither listen to anyone nor answer to anyone. I loved my freedom. I go to places I wanted to go, with people I like to go with. It was a happy, carefree and in a way irresponsible life.

Then I met him and I knew.. I knew that I was willing to give up the freedom that I’ve enjoyed for a long time and spend the rest of m life with him. And I haven’t regretted it… that is.. NOT YET, lol!

An entry for

‘The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word.’

Mata Hari was born Margaretha Geerruida Zelle in the Netherlands in 1876. She came from a wealthy family and was used to a luxurious life. Her father’s business, however, got bankrupt.

When she was 18 years old, she answered an advertisement by a Dutch officer living in Java, Indonesia searching for a wife. Their marriage, however, was unhappy and was led to divorce after their son’s tragic death.

Margaretha, then, went to Paris and worked in an circus as an exotic dancer. She claimed to be a Java Princess by the name of Mata Hari. She had had relationships with powerful men across the continent, but knowing high ranking officials of both France and Germany put her under suspicion of being a spy. She was arrested in 1917 and though the evidence of her being a spy was not sufficient, she was executed by firing squad.

She is remembered now as a famous erotic dancer and one of the most famous spies of all time.

Sources: bigraphyonline.net, stevekulpa.net, toptenz.net, s9.com

I read this story from grade school reading materials.

It was about a young man named George Washington. He wanted to work as a surveyor. However, he didn’t have a horse that would take him to the land or place he needed to survey.

One day at a town fair, he saw a handsome black horse. He approached the dealer and asked how much the horse was. The dealer asked how much money he got. George answered he haven’t got anything, but that he intended to work as a surveyor and when he raised the money he would be back for the horse.

The dealer laughed and said that the horse was the wildest horse in Virginia and he didn’t know how to get rid of it, and that if George could ride it without getting thrown, then, the horse was his.

George agreed, rode the horse and off they went. After several minutes, they were back at the dealer who by this time was surrounded by curious but expectant onlookers.

George dismounted, thanked the dealer and sadly spoke, ‘He’s a fine horse, sir, but he is still yours. He threw me in the woods, and it wouldn’t be fair t keep him.’
The crowd was amazed! They couldn’t believe such honesty. Nobody saw he was thrown, so the young man could have kept the horse, but instead he told the truth.

As George was turning away, a tall man stopped him and introduced himself to be Lord Fairfax. He complimented the young man for his honesty, a virtue he so admired, and offered him a work in his estate as he needed his property to be surveyed. He offered to pay George well and to have a pick of his finest horses.

Young George was so happy, a paying job and a horse, they are just what he needed. The honest young man came to be a mighty general and the first president of America.

‘I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.’

Sources: Scholastic Reading Skills Kit, horses-photos.org, myhero.com

‘To love another person is to see the face of God.’

— Victor Hugo, novelist, Les Miserables

Source of Photo: http://www.layoutsparks.com

Just right after Christmas, my female officemates, all of them single, complained of gaining weight during the season. What really rattled them was the occasion coming up next, the sweetest of all, the Valentine.

Assuming of course that they would get a date on that day, they were debating over the best fat burner of all. Just when someone offers a piece of information like what her friend was using, another one will cut her in and turn the advice down.

Oh well, I didn’t find out what they settled for or if they use anything at all. But one thing I was sure of, none of them got a date on Valentine, lol! How do I know? All of them were sulking and mumbling about not having enough men on Earth, lol!

Last week, I heard my officemate talking about a new kind of juice that when drunk will not make you feel hungry anymore. And I can feel that she was really into it. I was kind of happy for her because I believe that she really wants to find someone, but she thinks that her size and shape are the main reasons why she couldn’t get any boyfriend.

I really wished her luck. This week, however, she was absent for two consecutive days, and I heard that she was complaining of an upset stomach. Well,  because of that, she stopped taking her precious juice for now. So, I took advantage of the opportunity and told her about sensa weight loss product that I just discovered in the net.

It’s really up to her whether to try it or not. But whatever comes of it, I wish her luck, not just with her weight but with her love life as well..