The Gift of Color
This story is new. It was written for you.
Imagine a time long ago when things were just getting started. The first flowers were blooming; the first birds were building their nests high in the branches of sheltering trees; girls and boys, men and women setting up their first families and homes. These are the things that you might have seen if it wasn’t so dark. No one could see, because it was the first night, and the first day hadn’t happened yet.
The First People could hear the wind whining in the trees, and the birds twittering and whistling. It was so dark they couldn’t see anything, but the First People were too busy to worry about the dark. They were thinking about all the first things they would need to live beyond that first night. The First People were working so hard that they really didn’t care that they couldn’t see each other in the dark. As they spoke, they would turn their bodies toward sounds of voices that didn’t have faces.
When the sun finally rose on that first morning, the whole world looked like it was made of glass. [Show the cellophane wrap on the frame.] One by one the First People realized they still couldn’t see anything. Their faces and muscles and bones were all clear. Light passed straight through their bodies to the clear ground below. The sky was clear. The trees, birds, flowers, and rocks were all as clear as glass.
Finally, one of the First Children broke the silence. "I have eyes to see with," the child cried. "But there’s nothing to see" One of the adults tried to comfort the child, but the First People were all sad.
"What will we do?" one woman said. "Last night we planned to gather the tall grass that rustles in the breeze. We planned to bend and fold, and twist and tie that grass to make the first baskets. Then, we were going to go down to the river, which we hear moving past us, to collect baskets full of water, so all the First People could have a drink."
" Oh-hh-hh," moaned a thirsty man. "How will you find the grass if you can’t see it’ How will you know if you’ve made a tight basket if you can’t see your work? How will you find your way to the water and back?"
The First People were very creative and solved all these problems, one by one. Holding hands, they formed a human chain to make a trail to the tall grass. They took small, careful steps, never knowing when clear grass might give way to clear rocks or clear tree stumps. Once the human chain was finally in place, the person on the end felt carefully for one long, thick blade of grass, pulled it out of the ground and passed it to the next person, who passed it to the next, until the blade of grass reached the last person in line. [You could have the children close their eyes and pass a long blade of grass around the circle.]
After the grass had been plucked, several First People started weaving baskets, feeling their work with their fingers to find even the tiniest holes that would let water out. Finally they had a few baskets that could hold water. Once again all the First People formed a human chain and worked their way to the river. When a basket was passed to the last man in line, he dipped it carefully into the river he couldn’t see and pulled it up full of water. The First People breathed a sigh of relief when the man shouted, "It’s holding! It’s holding! And so it was that the First People shared their first drink of water.
The First People had been hard at work all day, and they’d only accomplished one thing–getting a drink! Although the First People had plenty to drink, they had nothing to eat, and they all went to sleep hungry.
When the sun came up again, nothing had changed, except the First People were more worried about how to take care of themselves in a world where nothing could be seen. As the day passed, the First Women and Men planned ways to collect food. A First Child who was playing found something hard–a rock, a crystal-clear rock. She tossed the rock up in the air and it twinkled in the sun. The child held it up for her mother to see. Stretching out her clear arm, with the clear rock in her clear hand, something happened. Stripes of something not-clear showed on her face and reflected on the ground below. [Demonstrate with a prism.]
When the girl’s mother saw the stripes of something not-clear, she called the others around. The First People were excited as they felt on the ground for more clear stones that would make those seven wonderful not-clear stripes. The girl’s mother decided to name the stripes. Pointing to each in turn she called out, "Red! Orange! Yellow! Green! Blue! Indigo! Violet! " The First People played with the stripes until the sun set.
On the third morning, a gentle rain fell. The First People set out their baskets to catch the rain and talked again about how to gather food. They almost didn’t notice when the rain stopped and the sun came out. Looking up, the First People saw above them the same not-clear stripes they had played with the day before: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. As the sun grew brighter, the stripes glowed stronger.
Suddenly one man said, "What if we take our baskets and form a line to the stripes? Can we bring the red, orange, and yellow home? Can we pass green and blue, indigo and violet down the line, and use the stripes to make our world not-clear?"
No one knew the answers, but everyone was willing to try. They formed a human chain so long it led straight to the stripes in the sky. At the head of the line was the woman who had named the stripes. She filled the baskets and passed them back down the line. As she turned with the last basket full of violet, the First People gasped. All the beautiful colors were dripping out of the baskets! But the groans soon turned to cheers, for when the very first drop fell to the earth, it colored a flower a brilliant shade of red. The next drop caught a bird’s wing in flight. The whole world came alive in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Trees appeared, and blue and yellow mingled to color the grasses green.
The First People were so busy watching their world change that they almost forgot that they were still as clear as glass. Suddenly a man tossed his basket of indigo high over-head and ran down the line of First People to await the shower of color below. Others followed his lead. Soon all the First People were playing with the colors falling from the sky. They rolled in the green grass and hugged gray tree trunks. They chased orange butter- flies and marveled at purple flowers. All the colors were still quite wet, and a bit of each rubbed off on everybody. When the colors finally dried, the First People found that they were all different colors. Some were warm, dark brown like the earth. Others were the color of honey, or shades of rose and burnished bronze mingled together. Some were pink all over, and others were touched by the yellow of the sun and golden buttercups.
They were thankful for this blessing of color. Now they could see the color of ripe apples and the blush of juicy peaches, and gather good food to eat. They could see the river run, birds fly, and fish swim. They could walk with their heads held high, their eyes seeking the best path. And they could learn from everything they could see.
When they looked at each other and saw all the beautiful colors of the First People, they were especially happy, and never wanted to be in a world without color again.
God is in Each One of Us
Once there was a boy named Svetaketu (Svayta-kaytu) who went away to school to learn all about God. When he came back home his father could see that although he had learned many things there were still some things, some very important things, that he did not yet understand. When his father told him that there was more for him to learn, Svetaketu said, "Please, Father teach me," and his father said, "So be it, my son."
Svetaketu’s father said, "Go bring me a fig from that large tree over there." Svetaketu ran to pluck a fig and brought it to his father saying, "Here it is, sir." Then his father said, "Cut it in two," and Svetaketu cut the fig in two saying, "I have done as you asked." Then his father said, "What do you see in the fig?," and Svetaketu answered, "All these little tiny seeds." Then Svetaketu’s father said, "Cut one of the tiny seeds in two," and Svetaketu did. Svetaketu’s father then asked, "What do you see now?," and Svetaketu answered, "Nothing at all."
Then Svetaketu’s father said, "But, my son, I want you to know that even though you can’t see it, there is an unseen power in that seed which can grow such a seed into a great tree like the one over there. And, Svetaketu, the unseen power that is in the seed is the same power that is in the whole world. That power is God. That power is Spirit and God’s spirit-power is in you, too, Svetaketu."
When Svetaketu heard his father’s words he felt very small and very big to think that he asked his father to teach him more about the spirit-power of God that was in him.
And so his father did and Svetaketu learned that even though this spirit-power is unseen by our ordinary eyes, we can see it with our inner eyes. It is there in such mysteries as growing aod loving.
And that spirit-power is in each one of us. It is in everyone here at church. It is in everyone in (your town or area). It is in everyone in our (state). It is in everyone in our (country). It is in each and everyone in the whole world.
Hide and Seek with God
Once upon a time God said, "I’m bored because I don’t have anything to do. I want to play with my friends." And because God is God, as soon as the words were spoken God’s friends were there. When God saw them all gathered, God said, "I’ve been bored because I haven’t had anything to do. Let’s play something." "Good idea," said God’s friends, "What shall we play?" God thought for a minute and then said, "I know, let’s play hide and seek!" The friends all said, "Yeay", for they knew that hide and seek with God was always exciting and different because God was the one who hid and God always thought of wonderful places to hide.
So God’s friends closed their eyes tight and they counted to ten. When they opened their eyes God wasn’t there anymore. So they all went off to look for God.
One friend decided to look close.upon the earth and soon came to a meadow. As he was searching, he stopped to admire the tender new sprouts of green grass pushing their way up toward the sun. As he bent over to look more closely at the tender green, he realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about it. So he jumped up and ran back to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is green and growing. I found God in the grass"
Another one of God’s friends decided to look for God m the night. She watched the sun go down, and the work-a-day noises stop, and the lights in the houses go out. As it got darker and as the peaceful night wrapped itself around her, she listened very hard, and then she realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about it. And when it was so still that she could see and hear nothing at all, she suddenly jumped up and ran to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is dark and peaceful. I found God in the night!"
A third friend looked upon the earth and he felt the mystery of the grass growing toward the sun. He stayed and watched the night on and he felt the mystery of the darkness and the stars. He thought to himself, "These mysteries are special and amazing and wonderful". But when he finally came back to home base, he said, "I found wonderful mysteries but I’m not sure if I want to call them God."
A fourth friend decided to look for God where people were. He joined a group of people going home from work and went with them into the store where they bought food. He went with them back out on the street as they started for their homes. He was with them when someone came up and said, "Please, I am very hungry. Could you share a little food with me?" The people readily agreed and as he watched,~he realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful about those people and he suddenly turned around and ran to home base, calling out, "I found God! God is love and sharing. I found God in people who care for others"
Finally, two more of God’s friends, a boy and a girl, decided to look for God together. After a time, they came to a house and they decided to look for God in the house. In the house they saw a room and they looked for God in the room. And in the room they saw a mirror and they looked for God in the mirror. As they looked into the mirror they realized there was something special and amazing and wonderful being reflected in it and they suddenly turned around and ran to home base, calling out, "We found God! We found God in us"
At this God appeared again and said, "I had so much fun! Weren’t those good hiding places? Some of you found me, others weren’t sure, and others are still looking. That’s OK because the most important thing is just to play the game. Let’s do it again because I’m sure I can think of some other good hiding places." And they all called out, "Olly, olly, oxen free, free, free," and the game started all over again.
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?
Background for "Being with God in Prayer"
All people need to communicate, with someone or something beyond themselves about their joys and their woes. For some, communication with other people, or even with animals, is enough. However, many people feel the need to express their deepest thoughts and concerns to that which is the source of all, to God, and they need to feel that God hears them and responds. There are many ways in which such communication can be expressed: through worshipful viewing of God and Goddess sculptures as the Hindus do in their worship; through the inner or spiritual eye as the mystics do; through silence as the Quakers and Buddhists do; through dreams; through body movements; and through words. All of these can be forms for prayer.
There is a great variety of types and methods of prayer in the world’s religions. In some religions, such as in many of the indigenous African religions, the God who created everything, becomes very distant and unavailable after creation is finished and people who wish to speak to a spiritual power, pray to the more familiar village Gods and Goddesses who care about them. In other religions, God is so powerful that it is dangerous for women and men to speak to God directly and it is necessary for there to be some kind of an intermediary such as a priest or priestess. Sometimes, one can only reach God through prescribed words, movements, or rituals. In other cases, however, humans are encouraged to speak directly from their hearts, in ordinary language, to God.
In some religions, it is believed that prayers are more pleasing to God or more effective if the one who is praying accompanies the words with certain body movements. In many religions, the one praying bows his or her head, sometimes accompanied by special placement of the hands. In Islam the faithful turn to face Mecca, kneel, and then lower their heads to the ground. Catholics enhance prayers by tracing the outline of a cross over their chests. At Shinto shrines, prayers are accompanied by hand clapping. Some Jews stand during prayers, rocking back and forth.
Many primary age children are likely to have experienced grace at a meal, a bedtime prayer, or a prayer in church though these prayers may not have been said on a regular basis. The idea that people can share thoughts and feelings with God, as well as with those who are close to them, may be appealing to many children. There are times when the people you are close to may not have the time to listen or, for a variety of reasons, they may not be an appropriate choice of a listener. It is comforting to know that there is a power that transcends ordinary relationships that is always available to listen and to respond.
Children can begin to understand "that power" as both greater than ourselves and yet also within us. The answer which comes to the girl in the story comes, not so much from a personified being as from within her own consciousness. It can be very helpful for children to learn to tap into a kind of "spiritual energy" which can provide support and encouragement. William James writes in The Varieties of Religious Experience, "the fundamental religious point is that in prayer, spiritual energy, which otherwise would slumber, does become active, and spiritual work of some kind is effected really." This kind of energy promotes the courage to overcome fears, as the girl in the story does.
At the same time, children, and all of us, should learn to avoid asking God to do something which is clearly impossible or which would only satisfy egotistical needs. They need experiences with prayers which express gratitude, concern for others, and otherwise promote spiritual growth. They, also, need to heed the advice offered by the grandmother in the story that the response to a prayer usually calls for listening, waiting, and being prepared for surprises; prayer does not guarantee instant gratification.
The importance of learning about prayer is supported by our Unitarian Universalist principle which encourages us to spiritual growth and by the source of direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life.
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.)
Background for Hannakah
The joyful Hanukkah celebration of the Jewish people occurs in December, usually at the same time as the Christmas season. Traditionally, it commemorates the rededication of the Temple at Jerusalem. Hanukkah was first celebrated over 2,000 years ago after the Jews, under the leadership of Judah the Maccabee (the Hammer), recaptured the Temple from the Syrians. Because the Syrians had occupied and defiled the Temple, it had to be ritually cleansed Also, the Jews needed to find oil for the sacred lamp. According to legend, the Jews found only one jug of oil which was enough for the lamp to burn just one night But it burned in the lamp for eight days and nights. These eight days and nights became the Hanukkah festival, which Jewish people have celebrated ever since in many lands and under many different circumstances.
The story also says that when the victorious Jews first entered the Temple, they found eight iron spurs abandoned by the Syrians in their flight. On these Spurs the Jews stuck eight candles and the light was the origin of the special menorah (candlestick) which burns during the festival.
Hanukkah has usually been celebrated more in the home than in the synagogue. On each night of Hanukkah, the family gathers around the menorah and lights and blesses the festive candle– one on the first night, two the second, and so on, until in the final evening all eight are burning. They exchange gifts, play dreidel games, eat latkes, and retell the story of the victory of the Maccabees and the little jug of oil that burned for eight days.
