Farmer Dilly’s Garden
Farmer Dilly
had a fair meadow, it was so lovely that farmers from far and wide admired it.
Every spring his cherry trees were the first to burst into bloom and by
mid-summer the boughs hung heavily with ripe fruits. And he had peach trees and
nectarines, and all manner of flowers. But the prettiest part of the field held
his vegetable garden, full of crisp little peas, turnips all in a row and
clusters of vegetables hanging from the vine.
Matron Melke
liked to linger near Farmer Dilly’s garden fence, and peer across the wooden
rails. “Oh, how I would like to taste just one of Farmer Dilly’s green peas,”
she sighed. They are much greener and plumper than mine!”
And so one
fair summer night she crept out across the meadow and traversed the wooden
fence. She wriggled like a snake across the dark, moist ground of the garden
and when she arrived at the peas she thought to herself “Now that I’m here, it
would be a shame to try just one of these luscious little peas. And immediately
she snapped off an entire branch, opened the first pod and gobbled up the
succulent green peas. Then she wiggled back across the earth, climbed the fence
and returned to her cottage. The next day she cooked the peas and made a hearty
porridge. And the porridge was so succulent that her mouth watered the days
after whenever she thought of it.
But that
night three sheep appeared in a dream. Each held up a hoof and admonished her:
“Pea-thief
beware,
There
is danger lurking there!”
After a
fitful night, she woke the next morning and comforted herself, “Farmer Dilly
hasn’t even missed his peas. Surely he won’t notice if I snitch a few of the
other vegetables!”
And so that
evening she slithered under the fence and headed directly for the turnip
greens. After collecting enough for a meal, she slunk back home. The next day
she prepared another scrumptious meal and when she had eaten her fill, she
leaned back in her kitchen chair and murmured “I am content!” before dozing
off.
Once again
the three sheep appeared in a dream and holding their hooves in the air, warned
her:
“Turnip-thief
beware,
There is
danger lurking there!”
When she
awoke she scoffed at the sheep’s warning. “Perhaps I ate a bit too much last
night and the hearty meal caused me to have such a strange dream! But surely
there is no harm in it!”
But after a
few days her desire for another delectable meal overpowered her better sense.
She smacked her lips as she thought about the beautiful fruits she had seen in
the garden. “Those apples, so red, so crisp, so perfectly shaped! Not a blemish
on them!” And so that night she set out again to the corner of the garden where
the fruit trees stood. She had no sooner twisted off the first fruit when
Farmer Dilly himself appeared. He seemed much taller than she had remembered
him. He stood menacingly while she squirmed under his gaze:
“Apple-thief
beware,” he admonished,
“There is penance
there!”
And
punishment came swiftly. “Because you have loved this garden so well, you shall
live in it always. You shall now guard my little plot and devour all those who
threaten it. The mice you shall eat and the rat you shall bother. And you shall
threaten all and be a belly-wriggler to the end of your days!”
And with
that poor Matron Melke became a slinking snake who guarded Farmer Dilly’s
garden till she finally found her rest under a stone, in the corner of the garden she loved so well.
1 comment:
Such an end to her, but guess this way she got punished also.
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