The Provider

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived alone. She sat at her table and looked at the wooden bowl. A wooden spoon sat beside it. A pot of water hung over the fire and she dreamed it was filled with meat and vegetables. The setting sun cast its light on the wooden utensils and she went to her bed. Another day gone.

She rose with the morning. She put on her things and sat in front of the bowl again. She looked around the house for anything edible. She put on her shoes and left the cottage. She entered the forest and the trees rose up around her. The moss grew along the path and the bushes sprouted their inedible leaves. Once, she had tried to eat them. They had tried to eat her.

She wandered through the forest and back to the village with nothing. Nothing to eat. Nothing to quench the pain in her stomach.

Days passed. Weeks passed. She went about her day with nothing to eat but the water on the stove. And then she heard it.

The other villagers shouted the news. There was one who brought them food. Every day he brought food and all they had to do was go out and get it. She picked up her wooden bowl and clutched the spoon as she walked toward the place. She peered around the corner before entering. It was better than they had said. The tables were piled with all kinds of food. There was bread and meat and fruits she had never seen before. People sat around laughing and eating this food from the provider.

The provider came every day. He brought in the food from faraway lands and laid it out for them. As time passed he brought food to their doorsteps. All she had to do was open the door and pick up a basket of food for the day. The baskets became larger. They were large enough to hold food for a whole week, and as soon as the basket emptied, she opened her door to find a fresh basket awaiting her.

This woman had children. They grew up in the cottage and every time they needed food she sent them to find the basket on the steps. They opened the door and hauled in the food and she set them to work sorting it into its proper locations. They had plenty.

When the boys grew up they moved to their own homes. They continued to find food on their doorsteps. Their wives opened the doors and looked out to see the food there. They began to think of it not as a gift, but an entitlement. They went about their lives and when they needed food they went and worked for it. They did the work of pushing open the door and using their eyeballs to find the food. They picked up the heavy baskets and carried them into their homes. They prepared the food they had worked so hard for and ate it while they forgot someone greater delivered the it day after day.

One day, the oldest son’s wife went out to find food and found none. She called her husband and he came to look. They stepped down and looked around the sides of the steps. They looked all around the house. There was nothing.

They talked about their options. They measured the amount of food left in their cupboards. There was no meat. They only had a few vegetables and one loaf of bread. They needed their basket now. They looked again. Nothing.

The days passed and the oldest son continued to look for the basket. He left his house and went to the woods where he searched for anything that resembled food, but all he found was the poison leaves his mother had tried to eat so long ago.

“Excuse me.”

The son turned and saw a man standing there with a basket.

“You may have this basket.”

“Thank you sir.” The son took the basket.

For a few days the son and his wife were thankful to the provider. They talked of him every time they cooked and expressed their thanks although he was nowhere to be seen. But they soon forgot. They quickly fell into their attitude of entitlement and thought they deserved to have food brought to their doorstep every day. The food arrived, but they never thought about where it came from. They never realized that it was the same man who brought food whether he brought it in the forest or to the doorstep. If they took a seed and planted it, they thought it was their own cleverness that made the seed grow. They forgot where the seed came from in the first place.

But every once in a while they remembered. When times got hard and they grew hungry they remembered where their food came from and found it waiting for them.