The parable of good and bad deeds

Visiting Grandpa

Grandpa welcomed Mickey and Oscar with joy and love. He had two houses on a large plot of land with a fruit orchard. One small house stood near the forest next to the lake, and a little further away was his second, large guest house. This house had a large beautiful living room with a huge warm fireplace and many rooms for his numerous friends and relatives. For himself, Grandpa had his small, but cozy and warm house by the lake.

— Oh, my beloved children! — greeted Grandpa his dear guests, — I'll give you food and drink now, so you'll have plenty of energy! Tell me, while I prepare tea with jam.

— My dear Grandpa, we need urgent help! — pleaded Oscar and told him about the recent bad weather and his destroyed house, about his insatiable desire to make things happen and to build a big and beautiful house as soon as possible.

— Your desire to make things happen and take action is very commendable, — said Grandpa and continued, — and what do you enjoy doing most, my children, at the fair of life?

— I, you see, — began Mickey, — took on a challenge yesterday — «always tell the truth», as well as «smile at passersby and help them find their way».

— But what kind of challenges are those? — laughed Oscar, — they only give you a couple of bricks each. Yesterday, I took on the challenge of «misleading passersby and showing them the wrong way», and I immediately got 20 bricks!

— Oh, Oscar, — replied Mickey with regret, — how can you take on such challenges and do them at the fair? I don't understand… I don't like it.

— Oh, come on! It's fun, and I'll build my own house to live in faster! — Oscar laughed in response.

— Oh, my children, — Grandpa said kindly, pouring everyone tea, — I was young and hot-headed like you, and always in a rush, wanting to earn my bricks quickly at the fair of life, build my house, and show off to my friends! Oh, I suffered so much with it. Just a little rain or wind, and the walls crumbled like sand. I couldn't sleep at night, it was so noisy from the cracks, as if someone was crying, and water dripped from the ceiling like someone's tears. And in the morning, I would run again to the fair of challenges and deeds to earn my bricks and rebuild my house of life… I have a lot to tell you about, how to avoid my mistakes and failures. And most importantly, what I want to tell you now — of course, there is a way to earn a lot of bricks quickly at the fair of life, and at the same time, your house will always be strong and warm.

— Yes, grandpa, please tell us, don't keep us waiting! We want to hear the secret as soon as possible! — exclaimed Oscar eagerly.

— Alright, my dear children, — continued grandpa, — tomorrow morning, go to Sun Street. There's a magical factory there that produces bricks and distributes them to merchants at the fair of deeds and actions. The merchants will give you these bricks in exchange for completing various tasks and actions. They receive their share of the sold bricks. Come back to me afterwards, and we'll continue our conversation. I'll tell you many more interesting things about what you can and cannot do, my dear children.

— Wow, so it turns out that you don't have to work yourself, but can sell deeds and actions to other souls at the fair of life and receive bricks for it? — asked Oscar with excitement and amazement.

— Yes, but there are many merchants and not many willing to work. There are also subtleties and wisdom to it. We'll discuss it all tomorrow, — replied grandpa.

— Okay, grandpa! — said Oscar happily and enthusiastically. The rest of the evening, Mickey and Oscar relaxed and had fun with grandpa, telling each other stories and sipping tea with delicious jam made from berries from grandpa's huge garden.