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Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Flavier: The parable of the fruit tests
By Juan Flavier
THE three farmers knew instinctively from the altered terrain and vegetation that they were lost in the forest. They looked at each other and sat dejectedly on the fallen tree.
"What shall we do?" asked the youngest of the three. "The sky is overcast and we cannot even determine where the sun is."
"We just have to wait for morning and hope the sky clears," replied the second, making an effort to remain calm.
"And stay alert in case dangerous animals come to attack us," added the third.
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, they became aware of wild men almost totally naked except for flimsy g-strings. Each held a bow with the arrow pointed at the three startled and terrified farmers.
"You are our captives. You must follow us to our chief," declared the tallest native using the arrow to direct where they should walk.
The chief sat on a rattan hammock. "We are going to eat you," he said with a flourish. "But as is our tradition, we will give a fair chance. Each of you must go into the forest and gather a fruit. Get ten pieces of one kind of fruit and come back. That is the first test."
The three scampered to the forest in search of the fruit that could spell their freedom.
After an hour, the first farmer returned with ten pieces of guava the size of golf balls.
"That is good," commented the chief. "You have passed the first test. Now the second test is to swallow all the fruits. You are not allowed to bite or chew. Just swallow. If you succeed, you are a free man in the tradition of this tribe."
With great effort, the farmer swallowed each of the guava fruit. But on the tenth fruit, he just could not force it down his throat.
"The last guava fruit is in my mouth but it just wouldn't go down," explained the farmer. "Am I allowed to climb this tree and jump down? The force of my descent will force the fruit down my throat?"
"Go ahead. That is legitimate. It shows you are thinking. Here we admire cunning for survival," said the chief.
With that the farmer climbed the tree with the last guava fruit in his mouth. When he reached the top of the tree and he was about to jump down, he began to howl with laughter and great amusement.
"Hey, have you become crazy?" the chief shouted to the farmer.
"No," the farmer answered. "It is just that I saw my two friends coming with their fruits."
"So what?"
"Well, one is bringing ten pineapples and the other is lugging ten jackfruits."
(May 14, 2003 issue)
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