When You Grow Old Enough to Understand

“Mum, why do we destroy the weeds in the flower garden and the mice and rodents that we find in our home? I asked my mother one day. I was really young, about six years of age.

She pulled me to herself, smiled sweetly into my face and put me on her laps and said, “I’ll tell you the story behind that.” And she began,

“It is said that in the beginning, all animals and plants had their respective places in a beautiful garden though they come out to mingle with other animals and plants and paid each other visits, and to look after all of them was one man and a woman. They all lived in harmony and God was known to visit them regularly. They even held meetings sometimes and everyone as well as every living thing was present.

In one such meeting, God told the man and woman in the company of all the other creation that of a certain tree, they were not to eat for if they did, they would die. Everyone agreed with God not to eat of the tree, and no one asked any questions.

However, one day_ a very long time after that decree_ when the man and woman, arm in arm, were taking their usual strolls around the garden, the woman noticed that there was a snake in the tree they were not to eat from. In curiosity, she drew close, pulling the man with her to the tree because up until then, she had not seen anyone nor anything even dare to approach the tree.

Reading the look of surprise on the faces of both the man and the woman, the serpent asked, “why do you look at me with such bewilderment?” he did not wait for an answer and continued for he knew what their answer would be. “Do you think God really meant for you not to eat of this tree?” he chuckled as if marveled at their sheer ignorance.

This time the woman didn’t wait for him to continue talking and said with a tinge of doubt now forming in her mind at the point the serpent was obviously trying to make, “He said we should not, if not, we shall die.” This time the serpent did not only chuckle, he bawled with laughter, clutching at his sides. The man and woman looked at each other with stupefaction.

“Of course you will not surely die” he managed to say still laughing with scorn at them. The serpent slid off the tree and went away from them still laughing and shaking his head as if in wonderment. The woman made a mental note to tell God that perhaps he was making a mistake about the tree.

Meanwhile, while this conversation was ongoing, the weeds and mice overheard that no one would die if they ate the fruit and, believing this applied to other rules, went about spreading the news that no rules held anymore for they did not wait to see the hideous change that had happened to the man and the woman when they did eat of the tree.

Ever since that time, though everyone was turned out of the beautiful garden and things have not been so rosy as they were in the garden, the animals, with so little thinking ability have since believed that no rules held. The weeds say to themselves, “we will not surely die if we grow amongst the crops.” The mice also say likewise and they trespass, going where they ought not to be and are in the end killed by men.”

I was speechless when my mother finished the story because my little brain was fast at work trying to use this story to answer a lot of question that swam in my head. I asked my mother, “how can one disobedience lead to such a disastrous consequence?” I had earlier learned the meaning of disastrous and consequence and decided to use it.

She smiled, obviously at my big words and said, “my dear, disobedience leads to bad things and when you grow enough to understand, you’ll see why it is the reason the world is as it is.