The Story of Buddha
Characters:
Siddhartha Guatama
Queen Maya
An elephant
A charioteer (Channa)
A sick man, an old man and a dead man (one person)
A monk
Siddhartha’s wife and child
A large tree
Mara, the evil spirit
Props:
an umbrella
a large tree
a belt with sword
paper flowers
cane
bathrobe
Scene 1: Buddha’s birth, 563 BCE in India
Characters: Queen Maya, elephant, Siddhartha
Props: paper flowers
One night Queen Maya had a wonderful dream in which an elephant with six tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched her right side. At that moment a child was miraculously conceived. When Queen Maya told her husband of this dream he called the Brahmins (or wise men) to interpret it. They predicted that a son would be born who would become either a great king or a great religious leader. His name would be Siddhartha, which means "he whose aim is accomplished." According to legend, Siddhartha later emerged as an infant from his mother’s right side, walked seven steps in the four directions of the compass and said, "No further births have I to endure, for this is my last body. Now shall I destroy and pluck out by the roots the sorrow that is caused by birth and death." According to tradition, it rained flowers at the time of Siddhartha’s birth.
Scene 2: Siddhartha grows up
Characters: Siddhartha
Props: umbrella
The King very much wanted Siddhartha to grow up to become a great king, not a religious leader. So he decided to give him everything he desired and protect him from all sorrows and trouble, so he would never want to leave the palace. The prince was never allowed to go alone outside the palace grounds. He never saw sick, injured, or old people, and he was never told of death. He learned all the arts of royalty: to shoot with a bow and arrow, drive a chariot. ride a horse. He wore silk clothes and always carried an umbrella over his head to protect him from the sun and dust. At age 16 he married a beautiful princess. In time they had a child and were very happy together.
Scene 3: The "Four Sights" that changed Siddhartha’s life
Characters: Siddhartha, Channa (charioteer), old man, monk
Props: cane, bathrobe
At age 29, Siddhartha called his faithful charioteer Channa to take him for a secret ride outside the palace grounds. As they drove through the city, Siddhartha saw three things he had never seen before. One was an old man lying on the road, groaning with pain. "What is the matter with this man?" he asked Channa. "He is sick and in pain," Channa answered. "But why should anyone have to suffer such pain?" Siddhartha asked. Channa shrugged his shoulders, "It is the way of life." And they traveled on. Soon they came to another man, all bent over and hobbling: along with a cane. "What is the matter with that man?" Siddhartha again asked. "He is old" answered Channa. "It is something that comes to all people who live a long time. Bodies become tired and weak." Finally, they came on a man in rags, Iying beside the road as if he were asleep. "What is wrong with this man?" asked Siddhartha. "He is dead," came the answer. "What does "dead" mean?" Channa answered, "I cannot tell you, but it happens to all people, rich or poor."
Later that same night, when Channa and Siddhartha returned to the city, they saw a man dressed in a yellow robe with a shaven head, begging for food. Siddhartha stopped the chariot and questioned the man, "I am a monk," he replied, "I have adopted a homeless life to win salvation. I search for the most blessed state in which suffering, old age, and death are unknown."
Scene 4: Siddhartha leaves the palace
Characters: Siddhartha, Channa, Siddhartha’s wife and child,
Props: belt with sword, bathrobe
Shocked, Siddhartha returned to the palace and thought about what he had seen. For the first time he was aware of suffering in life, and he felt he could no longer enjoy his own life of ease and riches. That very night Siddhartha decided to leave the palace. "If I were to live like one of these monks, perhaps I could learn the truth about suffering and how to end it." Silently kissing his wife and child goodbye. he asked Channa to drive him to the outskirts of the city. There he took off his jeweled sword and cut off his hair and beard. He took off his Princely clothes, put on the yellow robe of a monk, and told Channa to take his possessions back to his father.
Scene 5: Siddhartha’s wanderings
Characters: Siddhartha
For years Siddhartha wandered throughout northeast India, seeking holy men who taught him, among other things, techniques of meditation. He studied the teachings of Hinduism, the ancient religion of India. He was most interested in Samsara, or reincarnation, the idea that after death a person’s soul is born again in a new body. The common Hindu belief at the time was that only by leading a highly spiritual life (or several lives) could a person break the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Siddhartha was attracted by this idea and he adopted a life of extreme self-denial, not eating or sleeping and meditating constantly. For six years he stayed along the bank of the Nairanjana River, eating and drinking only enough to stay alive. He was determined to force himself to this highest state of being through self-denial. But over time he only became extremely weak.
Scene 6: Under the Bo Tree
Characters: Siddhartha, evil spirit Mara, Siddhartha’s wife and child
props: large tree
One day, Siddhartha realized that his years of denial had weakened his body to the point where he could not think clearly about the world or religion. So he started to eat normally again. Refreshed by food, he sat down under a fig tree (known to Buddhists as the Bo Tree, the Tree of Enlightenment) and entered a state of very deep meditation. Buddhist scriptures say that during this meditation an evil spirit, Mara, tempted Siddhartha with all sorts of pleasures to distract him. But he was not swayed. His deep meditation continued until he had recalled all of his previous rebirths (550 previous states of existence). He gained knowledge of his cycles of births and deaths, and was able to cast off the things that bound him to the world. He had attained enlightenment, "Nirvana," the end of suffering.
From that day on Siddhartha was known as the Buddha, "the enlightened one," or "the one who has found the light." The light that Buddha found was not the kind that you see with your eyes. It was an inward light that makes you feel peaceful and helps you to think more clearly. Tradition says that when Buddha reached Nirvana, he could have cast off his body and his existence. Instead he turned back to the world, determined to share his enlightenment with others so that all living things could end the cycles of their own rebirth and suffering.
During his lifetime Buddha institutionalized his teachings by forming Sangha, a community of monks and nuns who practiced the religion and taught it to others. Buddha’s wife and son joined him in the Sangha, as well as other relatives. Today members of the Sangha continue this tradition and provide an important link with the religion’s founder.
THE END
The Story of the Birth of Jesus
Once, a long,long time ago–before you were born–another baby was born. The story is that the baby’s mother, Mary, and his father, Joseph, had to leave their home city of Nazareth and goon business to the town of Bethlehem. To go from Nazareth to Bethlehem Joseph walked, but Mary, who was going to have a child soon, rode on a little donkey. They reached Bethlehem late in the evening and went to the inn to ask for a room for the night. But the town was crowded with people, and the innkeeper told them that there was no more room at the inn, and that they would have to find another place to stay. At last Mary and Joseph found shelter in a small barn with the animals. When the baby was born that night, Mary said, "His name will be Jesus," and she wrapped him warmly and laid him in a manger. There he went to sleep.
That night there were shepherds in a field nearby looking after their sheep. And suddenly there was a bright light all about them, and an angel came to them. The shepherds were afraid, but the angel said, " Fear not, for I bring you good news for all people. On this day, there is born in Bethlehem a child, and you will find him warmly wrapped and lying in a manger." And then there were, not one angel, but many angels saying:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all people." And the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
There were also in that country three kings,who had seen a new star rise in the East and had followed it. The star seemed to come to rest just above the barn where the family was staying, and when the three kings entered there, they found Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. The kings remembered this very first birthday of Jesus by bringing him gifts. This story is a story of long,long ago, but this year, and every year, we still remember Jesus’ birthday by giving gifts and by singing, like the angels:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all people."
Background for "God is in Each One of Us"
The story of Svetaketu and his father is taken from the Hindu scriptures called the Upanisads. The word "Upanislld" means to "sit down nearby" and refers to the practice in which one who desires to learn sits down at the feet of a teacher. There are over two hundred Upanisads, written, in Sanskrit, during the 8th to the 6th century B. C. E.. This story is found in the Chandogya Upanisad (6.12) and it is part of a series of discussions between Svetaketu and his father.
The earliest Hindu scriptures are the Vedas which are hymns to the various Gods and Goddesses. In the Upanisads, Hindus begin to philosophize in a more systematic way about the universal religious questions. The concepts in the Upanisads develop toward the understanding that all of the "3306" Gods and Goddesses are in reality forms of the one God, Brahman. Furthermore, this philosophy sets forth the belief that there is in humans what is called the Atman, a spirit-power, a soul, and the Atman and Brahman are the same. In Sanskrit this is expressed in the phrase, Tat Tvam Asi, which means, That Art Thou. Most of the Svetaketu stories end with the father saying to him, "that which is the finest essence-this whole world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That is Atman (soul). That art Thou, Svetaketu." (translated by Robert Ernest Hume).
The theology of the Upanisads has been called monism, which is described in Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary as, "the view that there is only one kind of ultimate substance" or "the view that reality is one unitary organic whole with no independent parts." Another similar type of theology is panentheism, which is not the same as pantheism. Pantheism is described as meaning that all is God, whereas, panentheism preserves a sense of God’s transcendence by saying that all is in God. The Handbook of Theological Terms, says that panentheism "argues that the world is included in God’s being something as cells are included in a larger organism, although the world does not exhaust God’s being or creativity. Just as a person is both the sum of all his [or her] experiences and parts and yet more than they, so God has all of finite being as part of [God’s] being and experience but transcends it." The Hindu philosophy of the Upanisads can be interpreted in a strict way as monism, but in a more liberal way as panentheism.
At any rate, both of these viewpoints contrast with theistic beliefs in which God and humanity are totally separate entities and where the ultimate values ascribed to God are not applicable to people. A theology based on a belief of "That art Thou," on the other hand, must apply ultimate worth to humans just as it does to God. Therefore, the stories of the Upanisads, support the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, one of our Unitarian Universalist principles. They also support the principle which urges respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part and the source of our own direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder.
Children who are on the younger side of the five to seven developmental shift may intuitively feel quite comfortable with the concept that God is in us and we are in God since their thinking isfluid and magical. Girls and boys who are developmentally older and are beginning to classify and analyze may want to examine these ideas in a more rational way. Invite both viewpoints in theconversation and encourage the children to share their differing ideas with each other.
The "Namaste" greeting is used in everyday conversations in India and Nepal and by those who study Yoga. When one says, "Namaste," to another, one is speaking from and to the place in each of us where the spirit dwells.
What do UUs believe about God?
Goal:
To consider the idea that UUs agree that it is all right to have different ideas about all kinds of things, including God and to consider some of the different ideas about God that UUs have.
Materials:
Paper doll pattern
White poster board
crayons, markers
Scissors
Activities:
1. Read “UUs Have Different Ideas About God”
2. Make paper dolls.
Trace several paper doll patterns on poster board. Cut them out and color each one. Encourage kids to make each one look different from the others. In the spot where the heart is, ask them to draw a picture of that person’s idea about God or ideas about things they love the most.
Attach the paper dolls together by taping their hands. Hang.
3. Engage kids in conversation about the stories, while you’re making the paper dolls. Tell them your ideas about God. Then ask them:
What ideas do you have about God?
What if someone doesn’t have any idea about God? Is that okay?
Do you like it that UUs have different ideas or do you wish we had one idea that everyone believed?
Do all UUs believe the same thing?
Goal:
To become aware that Unitarian Universalists treasure each person’s special way of looking at things.
Activities:
1. Doodles: Make enough copies of the doodles from these pages (Doodle 1, Doodle 2, Doodle 3, Doodle 4) so each person has a copy. Ask everyone to make a picture out of the scribble. After you complete them all, share your drawings. Talk about how the same scribble suggested different ideas to different people. Suggest another way of completing the picture that most would not have thought of because it is not part of the daily world.
2. Play The Big Picture Game (this is a large image)
3. Play “What in the world?” National Geographic website link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/world/games/whatintheworld/0203/witw.html
Discussion:
Everyone has their own special view of the world. Your experiences, interests, tastes, and personality all influence how you see the world. Unitarian Universalists treasure this fact of life. We celebrate our differences. We believe the world is a better place because we each have a special way of looking at things. This goes for religion, too. Not all UUs believe the same thing, and we like it that way.
Being with God in Prayer
Once there was a child who had problem and this problem was this. All of her friends would climb up to the top of the highest slide on the playground and slide down but, although she liked to slide on the smaller slide, she was afraid to go up to the top of the highest slide. And there was more to the problem; her friends sometimes teased her because she wouldn’t slide down the highest slide. Sometimes they called her "a baby".
Up to now whenever she thought about this problem she just got very tight inside and didn’t want to talk about it. When her friends called her a baby she just said, "No, I’m not. I just like the smaller slide better." But now she was starting to notice how exciting it was to go down the big slide and how much fun her friends were having and she wished that she could do it too. But she still was afraid.
She wanted to explain to someone about how she felt but she didn’t know who to talk to. One day when she was visiting her grandmother by herself, she said, "Grandmother, I want to talk to somebody about a problem but not my friends, or my teachers, or my parents." Her grandmother said, "Well, you certainly can share it with me, if you want to, or you could share it with God, like in a prayer."
"Share it with God in a prayer!" the girl replied, "How do you do that? Do you have to use special words, like Amen?" "No," her grandmother explained, "you can just talk like you would with anyone or you can sit quietly and just think and feel." "Don’t you have to go to a special place to pray, like church?" the girl asked. "No, you can be with God anywhere, although church is a good place," said her grandmother. "I saw some people pray once and they bowed their heads and put their hands in a special way. Do you have to do those things?" "Not at all," her grandmother reassured her, "Though bowing your head or closing your eyes or holding your hands together and near your heart is sometimes helpful."
"You can use any words, you can be anywhere and you can haveyour body anyway that is comfortable for you," her grandmother went on, "but there are three things you must remember when you pray." "What are they?" the girl asked. "The first is that when you share something with God, you also have to listen; the second is that sometimes you have to wait to hear God answer; and the third is that God may surprise you." "Thank you, Grandmother," the girl said as she hugged her. "I’m going to try sharing my problem with God and I will remember what you told me."
So when the girl went home, she went into her bedroom, sat comfortably on her bed and said, "Hi, God. I have a problem I want to share with you" and then she told God all about the high slide and the teasing and how she wished she could get brave enough to go down the slide now.
And then she waited quietly, listening. As she listened she heard same words going around in her head: "sliding–so high–scared–climbing–fun." And as she listened she heard some more words: "you go up the small slide–the big slide is just a few more steps–once you were afraid to let go in the water and swim but all of sudden one day you did it–when you are ready–you can do it"–and she wondered, "Is that God helping me with my problem?" That night as she slept she had a dream and in her dream there was a great huge slide that went all the way up into the clouds and in her dream she was climbing up the steps of the slide with God following behind her. When she got to the top she sat down and she heard God say, "Go!" and then, with a cry of "Here I go," she pushed off and slid all the way back to earth, and God did too. It was so exciting and wonderful that right away she did it again. When she woke up she remembered her dream and wondered, "Was God really there, in my dream?"
For several days she shared her problem with God, and she dreamed at night, and she went to school and looked at the high slide but she still went down the small one. Then one day a boy was sliding with her on the small slide and he said, "I want to go down the big slide but I’m afraid to do it by myself. Would you come over and climb up right behind me? If you were there with me I don’t think I’d be so afraid?" "Sure," the girl said, surprising herself, "I’ll come with you."
And so they went to the slide and the boy started climbing up and the girl climbed right behind him. When he got to the top, he sat down very carefully and then off he went, down, down the slide. "I did it," he yelled out, "because you were there and I knew I wouldn’t fall." All this time the girl had not been thinking about how high the slide was because she was thinking about helping the boy. Now she saw she was almost to the top. She just had one more step to go and she wasn’t afraid, well, not very much. So she climbed up the last she wasn’t afraid, well, not very much. So she climbed up the last step, sat down, and heard a voice within her saying, "Go, you can do it!!" and so down she went sucking in her breath with the thrill of it. And then the boy and the girl went up and down the slide over and over again.
That night again in her room, the girl said to God, "lt is good to be with you. I had to listen hard and I had to wait but you were with me. And you surely did surprise me today!! I didn’t know I was ready but I guess you did. Thanks, God, and oh, yes, Amen."
What is the Golden Rule?
Junior News by CLF
Goal: To learn about the golden rule in the Bible and in other religions.
Materials:
Golden Rules Cards: Page 1 and Page 2
Activities:
Read “The Very Short Rule”
If you want to show children the Bible reference for this story, it can be found in the New Testament of the Bible in the following passages: Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31, Mark 7:1-5 and 14-23. This is a well-known story from Jesus.
Discuss (according to age appropriateness):
All the people who talked to Jesus in this story seemed to find it hard to be good. Why was this? Do you find it hard, too? What makes it hard?
What are some of the rules you have to obey and find hard to remember?
What was the very short rule Jesus suggested?
How good a rule do you think it really is?
How can you tell someone that you do not want to play or be in their group or be with them so that they will leave you alone without hurting their feelings?
Think about this rule in your every day life. How would it work in specific situations. If you wanted to give your father a birthday present, would you give him a bike because that’s what you want him to give you for your birthday? Help kids see that we must learn how to imagine ourselves in other people’s situations in order for this rule to work well.
Cut and Color the Golden Rules cards
The Grumps
Once upon a time there was a family of Grumps. Papa Grump, Mama Grump, Sister Grump, and Brother Grump. Everyday they would grump at each other from morning to night.
Papa grumped at breakfast, “My porridge is too hot!”
Brother grumped at lunch, “My soup is too cold!”
Sister grumped at dinner, “It’s no fair. Brother got a bigger piece of cake than me!”
As for Mama Grump, she would roll her eyes, bang the plates down hard, and grumble, “If you don’t like what you’ve got, go fix it yourself!”
No one ever said, “Thank you!” No one ever said, “Please!” No one ever said, “I’m sorry!”
As you can imagine, all that grumping had a terrible effect upon the Grumps looks. Their faces were wrinkled up sourly, as if they’d been sucking on lemons. Their hair stuck out in all different directions because of their pulling at it in fits of temper. When they walked, their heads hung down so low, all they could see were their belly buttons; so every other step they would bump into something, getting scrapes and bruises on top of scrapes and bruises. It’s no wonder the Grumps hardly ever looked at each other.
The Grumps lived in the middle of a dense and gloomy woods. Under the great trees night and day seemed almost the same, except for the chill that night brought with it. Mama Grump often warned Brother and Sister not to wander away from the house, because they could get lost so easily in the dark tangle of trees and underbrush.
One morning Sister was feeling particularly grumpy. Brother Grump had stepped on her mud pie, because she had broken his stick, because he said, “You smell!” because she had sat on him thinking he was a mossy rock. Sister decided that she was going to leave her family to go wherever she pleased on her own.
So she headed into the woods muttering to herself, tripping over tree roots, scraping against pricker bushes, and aimlessly wandering this way and that, until her head bumped up against a tree. “Waaaaaah!” Sister stumbled, fell backwards, and landed hard on her sitter. She looked up ready to let loose a terrible grump at the tree, when “huh!” she saw something she had never seen. Before her was a small clearing, and stretching from the tops of the trees to the patch of ground in front of her were bright shafts of light.
Sister forgot all about her grumble. Looking into the brightness she could see the green of leaves, the yellow and blue of flowers, and a sudden flash of red as a bird flew past. She picked herself up and lurched forward into the light, feeling its warmth upon her.
In the middle of the clearing sister stumbled upon a spring. As she peered down into the calm water at its edge, she was startled by a dirty, twisted face peering back at her. At first she drew back, but then she realized the face was her own. Full of wonder, she began to smooth back her hair, and wash the dirt off her skin. Ever so slowly, her mouth untwisted and began to curve up at the corners while a good feeling warmed inside her.
Suddenly Sister wanted her family with her. She hurried back through the darkness and prickers trying to remember the way she had come. She would surely have been lost forever if her family’s grumping hadn’t been so loud, penetrating even the darkest and densest of thickets. Led on by her Papa’s roar, “Who’s been sitting in my chair?” she reached the house at last.
Sister rushed through the door. In her haste she knocked over Brother’s chair, and one of its rockers came off. “Look, my chair’s all broken! Sister did it!” Brother wailed.
“I’m sorry!” said Sister.
Mama, Papa, and Brother all stopped and stared at her in surprise. There she was all smiling and shining at them like she’d discovered the bees secret for making honey.
Somehow Sister managed to lead her family back through the tangled darkness to the clearing of light. Perhaps it was the red bird who signalled the way. Finally, there the Grumps were; blinking in the bright light, surprised by beauty, and warmed to their forgotten hearts. It wasn’t long before Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister were all splashing and preening in the spring water, delighted with themselves and each other.
From that day on the Grumps made their home in the light. They held their heads up when they walked, hardly ever tripped, and looked upon each other with new warmth. They said, “Thank you!” “Please!’ and “I’m sorry!” quite often. In fact they were no longer Grumps. On their mailbox they printed in neat letters “Smith.”
The Half-Boy of Borneo
This story about the half-boy of Borneo is very, very old. It has been told by the people of the island of Borneo in the South Pacific for hundreds of years. How much is really true in the story and how much has been imagined as true is for readers today to think over and decide. Here is the story:
Long, long ago on the island of Borneo, in the village of Tambahillar, there once lived a boy who was the dread and worry of all who came in contact with him. This was because he was only a half-boy. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, he had lost his good half. Now he was merely his bad half, and the bad half was always doing bad tricks.
A woman in the village might be doing her washing in the shallow part of the river, pounding the clothes with a stick to get them clean. Half-Boy, who had only one hand and one leg, would hop by on his one leg and spatter mud all over her newly-washed clothes. Another woman might be spinning. Half-Boy would slip up behind her, and with his one hand, would tear the wool off the spinning wheel. A man might be picking fruit and Half-Boy would pelt him with coconuts.
When Half-Boy played games with the other boys, he always seemed to find a way to spoil their fun. The women of the village called Half-Boy a pest. The boys jeered at him behind his back and threw sticks at him and the men scolded him and chased him off their fields.
As Half-Boy grew older, he became more and more annoying to the other villagers. They were almost ready to drive him out of the village, and some even wanted to kill him. There was only one young woman of the village who felt sorry for him. She believed that he might change.
One day the young woman said to him, "You are only half a person. I am sorry to say you are only the bad half. Somewhere in the world is the other half of you—the good half. If you will go away and find your other half and then come back with it and let it live with you, I will marry you!"
Half-Boy was surprised; he could hardly believe what he had heard. He even hopped away as if he had not heard. But later he came back to the young woman and said, "You are the first person who has ever said a kind thing about me. I will do what you say. I will start tomorrow and I will never come back until I have found my good half and am a whole boy."
Next morning, with his spear in his belt, Half-Boy started off. But where could his other half be? He had not the slightest idea. The first day he hopped along for twenty miles, almost without stopping. At evening time he came to a village deep in the jungle. The people were all sitting about a big fire when Half-Boy hopped up and asked, "Is there a half-boy here? Is there one who has only one hand and does nothing but what is kind and good?"
The villagers shook their heads. "We heard once of a person like that," one of them said, pointing to the setting sun. "He is supposed to live two days journey from here."
Next morning Half-Boy started on his second journey. This time he hopped thirty miles before he found anyone. At last one evening he came to another village, beside a lake. Again he asked the same question, "Is there a half-boy here who has only one hand and does only good and kind things?" Everyone shook his head. They had heard of no such person.
Finally a stranger stepped up and said, "I saw a half-boy once in a village a day’s journey west. But I do not know whether he is good or bad, or whether he has only one hand. I only know he was a half-boy."
With that encouragement, Half-Boy started off again on his journey. This time he hopped forty miles. It took him several days. At last at evening time he came to the ocean and a little village on the shore. Even while he was quite far off from the village, a loud cry went up from the people.
"Another half-boy!" they shouted. "Another half-boy! This one has the opposite hand missing. Where is our own half-boy? We must find him right away. He must see his brother. While the people were still shouting and hurrying about excitedly, Half-Boy saw the other half-boy coming toward him. There could be no doubt whatever that he had at last found his other half. The two boys were the same size. They wore their hair done up the same way. One had only a right hand; the other, only a left hand. Each had a bracelet and an anklet to match the other’s. The only difference anyone could see between the two was in their eyes. The eye of the other was soft and warm and happy.
"Brother," said the bad half-boy, "I have come a long way to find you!"
"I am glad," said the other half-boy, "For I certainly would never have gone a long way to hunt you!"
"That may be true," said the bad half-boy, "but what are we going to do about it? Can we be joined together so as to make one whole boy again?"
As the two half-boys stood watching each other uneasily, the chief of the village came near. Taking each boy’s one had in his, he said, "The two of you must go off by yourselves into the bush and wrestle there. If necessary, you must wrestle for a day and a night or longer. As you wrestle, you will find yourselves growing together."
"It will be a short wrestle," said the bad half-boy. "I am strong and up to all sorts of tricks!"
"Don’t be boasting," said the good half-boy. "You may find a match in me, for I too am strong. I have a spirit in me, the spirit of the sunrise, which will help me."
The bad half-boy smiled. "I have a spirit in me that is more powerful than yours," he said, "It is the spirit of the night. It can blow out the fires of the sunrise."
So the two half-boys went alone into the jungle. When they had found a clearing, they grabbed each other. Back and forth they swung as they wrestled. All night long they struggled. At sunrise the good half was clearly the stronger, but they still wrestled on. By sunset time. when it began to be dark, the bad half had got the upper hand. But they were not ready to stop.
All the while in the village a heavy storm raged. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and rain flooded the land. The villagers said to one another, "Those two half-boys are not the only ones who are fighting. The stars are shooting their silver arrows at each other. Listen to the north and south winds. They are wrestling together in the palm trees."
Finally, the next morning at sunrise all was calm. The birds were singing. The wind went to sleep in the palm trees. And when the people of the village went forth from their huts, they looked out toward the jungle and behold! They saw a beautiful boy coming toward them. He held his head high and was looking in the direction of the rising sun.
The good half must have conquered!" said the chieftain of the village. "The two half-boys are now become one person."
The people shouted for gladness. They ran to the young man and asked him to come and live with them in their village. He shook his head. "No," he said, "I shall go back to the other village where my bad half has been living. I must find the maiden who believed in me, and marry her."
After thanking the chief of the village for the help he had given, the boy with two halves said good-bye to all the villagers. He started off again alone.
After some days he finally reached his own village, but his old neighbors did not recognize him. They thought he was a stranger! Only the one young woman who had believed in Half-Boy knew him at once, and she showed the others by what signs she knew him. "Our old half-boy accepted his good half," she said, "and the two together make a real person like the rest of us."
As his old neighbors looked and listened, they began to like the new boy. But the maiden loved him and the two were married that very day.
(This legend is found in New Found Tales From Many Lands by Joseph Burke Egan, published by John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, 1929.)
The Colors of Easter: A Read and Draw Story
Easter is the time when Christians celebrate and remember the life and death of Jesus. Most of what we know about Jesus’ life comes from four books in the Bible called the Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. The story of Jesus’ life as told in Mark is the oldest story. The other Gospels take the basic story in Mark and add on to it in a way that makes each story of Jesus’ life a little bit different.
1. Color the flame in the drawing at right for the mystery that is Jesus, and for all the things we do not know.
One idea found in most of the stories about Jesus is that he was a very loving and caring person. The stories say Jesus stood up for people who were left out, or being picked on, and he listened to people whom others ignored. He taught others he knew to do the same.
2. Color the chalice in the window for the love and caring Jesus showed toward all people.
Another thing people remember about Jesus is his courage. He spoke out against laws and people whom he did not think were fair and kind. He disobeyed some of the laws and tried to change them. He made both friends and enemies by his teachings and actions.
3. Color the rest of the stained glass window for the strength and courage it takes to stand up for what you what you think is right.
People who agreed with Jesus became his followers. Others, who disagreed with him, potted against him. One of his followers, Judas, disagreed with him and turned him over to his enemies. Jesus was arrested and sentenced to be crucified. He was nailed to a cross and he died. Jesus’ followers were confused, sad, and scared. They didn’t know what to do.
4. Take a black crayon and color over the whole chalice window with black, for the fear and hate which causes people to do cruel things, and for the sad and painful things in life which can leave us feeling so confused and frightened that we don’t know what to do.
On the third day after Jesus died (known today as Easter Sunday), Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb and found his body was gone. Then she saw a man, who said he was Jesus, and he told her not to be afraid, that he was going to be with God. Later, other followers believed they saw Jesus, too, and Jesus told them to carry on his message by doing what he had done in his life. This is the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, that is now celebrated on Easter Sunday. The early Christians carried on his work so it stayed alive and did not die with him.
5. Open a paper clip. Using on end, lightly scratch off the black crayon covering each section of the window, to let the colors show through again. When we really believe in something it gives us hope, and this hoe makes us strong and courageous. When we are sad and confused, sharing our memories and doing things which show our love and care for each other makes us feel better and lets our light shine through.
