Patience.
All Fairy children are taught the meaning of Patience. Patience is not just a word, not just knowing about how to wait for something to happen. I hear a voice from a reader of this story. How on earth does one teach patience? I see my friend that you have not paid attention while attending the school of life. Robert Bruce gave us one example, he watched a spider, a common spider spinning its web, and how the spider fell and had to climb back to have another attempt. This happened many times before the spider managed to finish its web. Robert Bruce, Scottish Leader. Often told this story of how he learned to have patience.
This story is really about Teenafee, a very young fairy who was always feeling dissatisfied no matter how hard she tried she could not grasp many of the lessons that were taught in the Fairy School. The wise old fairies knew of Teenafee’s difficulties and decided to help her. Teenafee lacked patience some things that she was taught she understood straight away these things she considered easy. Other things she thought we very hard for her to learn. She just could not concentrate on whatever the wise old fairies had given her for a subject. Teenafee was not alone a few of the young fairies had the same problem.
At a Teacher’s meeting the wise old fairies discussed how it would be if the fairy children had more patience. With more patience they would take a little more time and perhaps learning would be a little easier. The next question was how to teach the children patience. It is very hard for children to sit still and think about something no matter how simple the subject was. The wise old fairies knew that the slightest thing could take away a child’s attention. A butterfly, flying across the room, a noise, any little thing could stop them paying attention.
One of the wise old fairies then had an idea. Let us send the children out into nature to learn from nature just what patience is and how important it is for them to learn patience. The following Monday all of the fairy children were told by their teachers that they could go out into the woods and watch the birds, the animals, the insects to keep their eyes open and see how the wild things of nature behaved. The fairy children were delighted. Every day would be like a holiday, no school, no lessons only to look at the wild things of the woods and fields.
Teenafee was more than delighted, no hard things to be learnt, no one to ask her questions to which she had no answers; although the wise old fairies had carefully explained the things that she must learn to become a successful fairy. No silly magic lessons, she was free to come and go as she pleased. Off she went and one of her discoveries was a small patch of wild ripe strawberries. Sitting in the middle of the patch eating the luscious strawberries she noticed a column of ants. Each and was carrying something in its arms.
Teenafee became very interested and after watching the ants for some time she noticed that when something heavy was to be carried other ants came to help. Eating the occasional wild strawberry she sat for a very long time watching the ants. Suddenly she realised that the ants were working as a team. No ant pushed to the front each waited its turn to take part in carrying dead insects and pieces of dried grass even small twigs of wood that had been blown down from the trees. She also noticed that there were two columns of ants; one column going to the ant’s heap that she could see a little way away from her. The other coming from the ant’s heap there was a coming and a going with no interruptions an orderly procession of busy ants coming and going from and to the ant’s heap.
Teenafee thought about the ants and their ordered way of living she thought about her own way of life. She had no hard work carrying things from long distances, she did not even have to take her turn in one of the long queues coming and going to the ant’s heap. She could sing and dance if she wanted to on her way to the fairy school. Teenafee had no heavy burdens to carry. For one whole week Teenafee watched the birds she noticed how busy they were getting food for their young. The mother deer with her baby who always sniffed and turned her head looking and sniffing for possible dangers taught her another lesson. One must always be on guard against possible dangers. Even the family fox with their young cubs interested her. She watched the vixen or mother fox cleaning her young cubs; feeding the cubs the meat that that the fox brought home to the burrow.
Teenafee was a little disappointed when the wise old fairies told the fairy children that they must attend school again. The fairy children had all benefited from the week in the woods. The children were interested in all that the wise old fairies told them especially Teenafee she now listened to what was being said and whenever she was asked a question, to her own surprise she was able to answer. Teenafee left school and attended the Fairy University where she duly became a professor of all things to do with nature.
