Biblical Sap: Jesus Gave The Child the Cornhusk Doll

A Biblical Fable
By Sage Sweetwater

She played in the streets of Jerusalem. They told her she would soon die if she didn't move her solo marble game from the road. They grabbed her, they dragged her, they pulled her away from the wheel traffic. But she always came to sit in the same spot in the the streets of Jerusalem. "Little girl have you lost your marbles?" they asked.

One day the child was sitting in the road playing her solo marble game. The chalk circle she drew was perfectly round. You'd think she was the one who created Earth so perfect. Her pincurls were bobby-pinned with a springy ancient Jerusalem wire. She was the prototype for Shirley Temple. Cute and adorable she was, it didn't stop her from being run over by a heavily-loaded oxcart which crippled her legs. She was an orphan living on the streets of Jerusalem. They made her crutches from the Joshua tree branches. They said she would heal from the biblical sap. She didn't. Her legs were crippled. The driver of the oxcart drove her then around town for penance for running her over. But it was no one's fault. Although they told her she would die from playing her solo marble game in the street, there never really was that much wheel traffic on that street of Jerusalem anyway. Jesus said it was destined to happen. He said although people looked up to him, he couldn't perform miracles. He thought maybe the cornhusk could. Jesus gave the child the cornhusk doll. Her eyes sparkled. She pushed her pincurls away from her eyes and the tears flowed. She walked to Jesus to hug him. Her legs straightened and the pain moved away.

The oxcart drivers slowed down and people began adopting orphan children from compassionate natures. Biblical sap isn't the healer. Will power is the healer.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist