LOVE

Once upon a time in a land that was very cold, there lived a brave little boy in a freezing forest all by himself. Nobody knew where his family was or how long he had been living there alone. He always felt sad, hungry, and like there was nothing good about the world. He never understood why people would smile or laugh. 

Not that anybody asked, but his name was John.

Everything changed on one freezing night when John saw a warm glow that looked like a light in the distance. He ran closer with his bare feet crunching the forest leaves underground. He hid behind a tree and saw what looked like a paradise to him: It was a warm little home with the door standing wide open. There was a sign that said: EVERYONE IS WELCOME HERE.

John walked to the door and looked inside. Not only was there a soft bed, and a cozy fire – there was something on the bed… It was a beautiful box that looked very special with a letter lying on top:

My dearest son John,

 
You are part of my family now.
These are my precious gifts to you!
Take one each week and bring it to me
at the castle on the mountain, 

I will show you how to live in the kingdom.

With love,
Your Father, the King

John carefully lifted the lid of the box and saw that there were nine gems inside with words carved into them. He took the first one out, studied it closely, and read it out loud in a small voice: Love. He looked around the home and decided he would sleep there that night. He fell asleep holding his first gem close to his heart – and for the first time, he felt warm and safe and loved.

JOY

In the morning, John woke up because of a strange sound. He thought it was a woodpecker, but the sound kept getting louder and louder. It was someone knocking on the door!

When John opened the door, he saw the King standing in front of him. He didn’t know what to say or do, so he did an awkward low bow on the floor. Then he said in a very tiny voice: “I’m sorry for sleeping here, I will go now”. But the kind King laughed a kind, low, and deep laugh. He pulled John closer to him and hugged him and said, “This is your home now. Didn’t you get my letter?”  

Over the first week, the King showed John all there is to know about the Kingdom, and they even spent time together in the castle at the top of the mountain. Brave little John had never felt like he belonged before in his life! 

One day, while they were exploring the kingdom, they came to a big fountain with a statue of a fish in the middle with water shooting high up into the sky from out of the fish’s mouth! And everybody who looked at the fountain started laughing immediately. It was such a joyful sight! 

John was standing far from everybody. He was trying to hide in the crowd, but he realized suddenly that everyone was joyful in this kingdom. 

The King looked over at John, who was frowning like his usual self, so the King came over and gently stroked the frown off his face. The kind King laughed, and John started slowly smiling too. That night at home John took out the second gem and carefully read the word carved on it: Joy.

PEACE

John now knew love and joy – his first two precious gems. He lived with a warm glow in his heart, and he would find himself smiling out of the blue. But remember that John lived his whole life in the wilderness; he was living in that freezing, lonely forest all by himself. It would take a while for him to get used to feeling like he belonged. 

One afternoon, John was sitting in the castle on the mountain, reading a book. In his pocket was his third gem – the word “peace” carved deeply into the shiny gem. John stroked the gem between his fingers while he was reading.

All of a sudden, a loud storm started raging outside. The windows were rattling wildly, and the wind was howling all around. There was a voice in John’s head that said, “See, the King doesn’t truly care for you. He did not tell you about this storm or prepare you in any way. What if you’re not safe here? So the king took you in, that just means the king was good, it doesn’t mean YOU are good. You are still the same lonely boy whom nobody cared for in that forest.” John became very afraid. He didn’t know what to do. His heart was beating wildly in his chest. 

He turned around to run back to the familiar forest and… bumped into the King. The King had kindness in his eyes. He said: “My dear son, do not be afraid. I am right here. It is going to be okay. Let peace come into your heart. Breathe.”John looked up and saw some words on the wall. It said “EVERYONE IS PEACEFUL HERE”

John looked up at the King, and then he looked outside. He decided to rather stay with the King. It’s so much more peaceful here inside with the King than out there.

PATIENCE

Brave little John was starting to get used to his new life. He had been there for three weeks, and he had gotten three precious gems. One morning, while John and the King were walking and talking, the King was telling John about the precious gems. While he was listening to the King talk, John took love, joy, and peace out of his pocket and looked at them. The sunlight was shining on them, and it made them sparkle even more. 

John turned to the King to ask him: “What is the best way that I can give love and joy and peace back to others? I want to give back what I have received.” The kind King smiled and thought for a little while. They kept walking in silence. John got bored; it felt like the King was taking foreeevvveerr to answer him. The King kept walking without saying a single word. John was beginning to get irritated. He threw the gems back into his pocket and looked at the King with a sour face. He started regretting asking the question in the first place, so he said: “You know what, never mind.” 

The King looked disappointed and a little sad. He said, “John, the first thing you need to learn is patience. I know you are used to living in the freezing, lonely forest, and there never was anybody whose feelings got hurt when you insisted things go your own way – but you are not alone anymore. To show love and joy and peace to others, you have to be patient first.” 

John thought for a while… The King had been very patient with him. He welcomed him in even though John didn’t say thank you enough – and he keeps spending time with him, even though John was late almost every day because he overslept. He made a decision right there to try out this thing called patience. 

KINDNESS

Brave little John was getting more and more used to not living in the freezing, lonely forest by himself. He felt comfortable with the King calling him “son”, and he wanted to stay there forever. But John still walked around with a frown on his face a lot, and he didn’t talk to any of the other people in the kingdom. He kept to himself whenever there were people around, but he was starting to learn more about love, joy, peace, and patience. 

On one such day, when John was trying to disappear into the background at a party, somebody tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see a short girl with a big, silly grin on her face. “I’m Kindness!” she said. John just looked at her with a straight face, amazed that a stranger was talking to him; his mouth hung wide open. 

“And you are…?” Kindness said. She looked him up and down and smiled her big smile again. She said, “Actually I know, you’re the boy from the freezing lonely forest, John. I want to be your friend.” John was suddenly very shy, so he said, “I’m not so sure, Kindness. I’ve never really had any friends. What do friends even do?” 

Over the next week, Kindness started to teach John how to be a kind friend –  one time when he fell down she helped him up, and she didn’t even tease him or laugh, and another time she offered to share her food with him when he didn’t have anything to eat.  Kindness always had a silly grin on her face, like she knew that life was actually kind and the world was actually good and she couldn’t wait to tell everybody about it. John liked his new friend and all the kind ways that she taught him about friendship.

GENEROSITY

John and the King spent a lot of time with his new friend. His world was now filled with love, joy, peace, patience, and Kindness. But John realized that he didn’t have anything that felt like it was his own; everything that he had was given to him by the King. He started to feel a little funny about it, so one evening when they were at the castle on the mountain, spending time together, he told the King about it. 

He said, “I know I have more now than ever before, but I still feel like I don’t have anything to share. I want to be good to my new friend Kindness, but I have only these empty hands to give.” The King picked little John up and let him sit on his lap as he listened to him. When he was finished, the King asked him what he had done with the five gems he had gotten so far. John took them out of his pocket where he’d been keeping them safe, and showed the King. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to them! I polish them every night and put them under my pillow when I sleep.”

“I blessed you to be a blessing to others, John. Freely give, because you freely received,” the King said. John’s eyes lit up! He knew what he could do. The answer was in his pocket all along.

The next morning, Kindness came over to play with John outside, and he asked her to close her eyes and hold her hands out. First, she didn’t want to because she said John would put a frog in them! But then she did it, and John carefully placed one of the gems in her hands. When she opened her eyes, she could not believe how beautiful her gift was; her face lit up into a silly grin. He shared with her the gift of Joy. And in the process, he didn’t even realize that he was learning about his next gem. 

FAITHFULNESS

Later that day, brave little John and his friend Kindness were walking along the river when somebody came up to them. It was a little old lady called “Hsiloof” and she told them that if they gave her some of their precious gems, she promised she would bring them back many toys the next day, more than they could count! They were both very excited – little John gave her 2 of his other gems, and Kindness gave her a gem too.

The next morning, they were so excited that they went down to the river before the sun was even up yet. John and Kindness sat on the rocks of the river, dreaming of all the toys that Hsiloof would bring them soon: they dreamed about dolls, kites, and little cars. But it became later and later, and Hsiloof never came. When the sun set, they walked back to the castle, completely crushed.

That night at the castle on the mountain, they told the King what happened, and he had pity on them. “What did you say this lady’s name was? Hsiloof… like Foolish backwards? Oh no, she tricked you!” The King was still kind, even though they gave the gems away. He pulled them towards him in a hug and said, “Not everybody will be as faithful as I am, not everybody keeps their promises. To be faithful and to do what you said you would do is a blessing.” 

The King reached into the pocket of his shirt and took out two gems, more beautiful than any of the others so far. He gave each one of them one. He said, “Be faithful, keep your promises, and you will be a blessing to everybody in the Kingdom and beyond.”

GENTLENESS

It was one week later, and brave little John didn’t think about the freezing, lonely forest anymore. His world was now filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. He had a friend and a Father, and he needed nothing more than that. 

As John was walking through the food market, he could not believe his eyes when he saw somebody he was sure he would never see again. It was Hsiloof, or whatever her real name was! It was the lady who tricked them. She didn’t keep her promise, and they never got their toys. 

John felt his heart beating wildly in his chest again. Immediately, he ran to the castle on the mountain to tell Kindness all about what he saw, and so that they could plot their revenge. They were sitting on the floor writing down a mastermind plan of how to get back at her – it involved frogs in her coffee and snails on her face while she was asleep. When they triumphantly picked up the page their plan was written on, they saw that the pen made a big spot of ink on the rug. 

The kind King came into the room right at that moment and asked them to show him what they were busy with. Immediately, both of them felt their cheeks get warm; they were so ashamed. They told him about their plan to get back at Hsiloof and could see the worry in his eyes. Then he saw the spot that the ink had made on the rug. He sat down, sighing, “It’s alright. I can see that this was an accident.” They looked up at the King with big eyes.

“Gentleness is not to treat somebody how they deserve to be treated, but to have meekness towards them and treat them with respect and love. Like with this spot of ink on the rug… You deserve to be disciplined and never allowed to write with this pen again, but I am gentle towards you. Do you think you can repay Hsiloof with gentleness as well?” 

SELF-CONTROL

Brave little John had already taken almost all the gems out of his treasure box – he had love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness already. He shook the box and heard that there was only one more gem inside. He was a little bit nervous about what would happen after the gems are done – would the King send him back to the freezing, lonely forest? Surely not, but he still had fears, and he still felt uncertain.

John didn’t want his time in the castle on the mountain to end; he wanted to know so badly what that last gem would say. He told Kindness about it, and she got that silly grin on her face again. Kindness could not contain her curiosity. She took the box from his hands and shook it violently above her head – the box cracked in the process, and the last gem fell out and rolled away. Little John could not contain his anger, before he knew what happened, he was grabbing the box from Kindness and scratched her hand in the process. 

The King heard a noise and came to them. He looked with big eyes at the situation. Kindness had tears in her eyes, and she was inspecting her hand where John had scratched her. John was sitting with the broken box on his knees, looking so sad that he could not speak. 

The kind King only said, “Self-control is what was needed here today.” They looked at each other, confused and still mad. “Kindness, you needed to have the self-control to wait one more week to see the next gem. And brave little John, you needed the self-control to not hurt your friend by grabbing the box from her.”  

The King asked John to come with him on a walk; he wanted to talk to him about the last gem and about what was to come next. John swallowed hard and felt something like butterflies in his stomach.

FINALE

They were walking for what felt like forever. Finally, they came to a big tree where there was a chest standing against the tree trunk. The kind King winked at brave little John and told him to go closer and see what was inside. 

John opened the trunk and found a breastplate – it had the sign of the Kingdom on it. His eyes filled with tears, he was convinced that the King was going to send him back to the freezing, lonely forest now that all the gems were opened. But instead, the King has given him an even greater gift. 

The King said, “My dear Son, you are now an ambassador of this Kingdom; it belongs to you. I need your help to find other little lost ones who are living in the freezing, lonely world out there. I am going to give you ideas, and we will continue dreaming together, and you will give a home to many ones like yourself.”

John could not believe his ears. He could make a difference!? He would never have guessed that he would be called a part of the Kingdom. He put on his breastplate and stood up proudly. The King came over and gave him a bag that looked like it had something valuable inside: he shook it and looked inside. Ah, 9 gems: love, joy, peace, and all the others. The King said, “Now, it’s your turn to share what you have learned with another lost one.”

John looked out past the end of the kingdom and into the freezing forest, but this time he had hope in his eyes and a big smile on his face.