Her Disappearing Daughter
This German folktale was the Story for All Ages at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockford, IL, on February 5, 2006, and an integral part of the following sermon.There once was a woman whose partner died, and left her with their daughter to raise alone. She feared for her family, of course—she wanted nothing more than to provide for her daughter's future, so she was constantly working, planning for the day when her family would have everything she wanted it to have. As early summer came, she took her daughter and a number of baskets to a strawberry patch in the woods to gather berries to eat and sell as she did every year. That summer, the clearing was filled with berries—big, red, ripe, juicy strawberries with a smell so wonderful that they could barely stand it.
They picked all the berries they could, setting them gently into their baskets, and then putting the full baskets at the edge of the clearing. When they turned back, they saw more ripe berries everywhere. It didn't look as though they had picked a single one. They walked toward the center of the patch, looking around in confusion, and found a hole in the ground filled with steelblue and jewels. A voice, strong like the wind and soft like leaves rustling, said, "For many years now, you have gathered the berries you needed without harming this place. Take what you can of this treasure in three handfuls, but no more, lest you lose some other precious thing."
The mother held her skirt into a basket, and grabbed three handfuls of steelblue and jewels. Just as she dumped the last handful into her skirt, she saw a ruby larger than the largest strawberry she'd ever seen: deepest red, and shining with light in way that makes it look like it is full of delicious strawberry juice. She knew that if she took that one stone, she would have all the money she needed and would someday have the life she dreamed of for her daughter and herself. She couldn't imagine what else she had that would be worth enough for anyone to take it from her in exchange.
She took the ruby.
At that moment, there was a flash of light and a thunderclap. The hole in the ground vanished, and three faeries appeared as her daughter disappeared. With one voice, the faeries said, "Because you have stolen the heart of our treasure, we will keep your daughter, the heart of your family, with us. Return here at midsummer, and perhaps your daughter may return to you." Then the faeries disappeared, too, and the strawberry patch was the same as it had always been.
The mother, of course, was distraught—crying and wailing and wondering what she would do. She returned home, sorrowful, understanding that without her daughter, she has no family and all her efforts had been wasted. At midsummer, just a few weeks later, she returned to the patch with all the treasure she had taken and poured it out into the middle of the patch. She waited and waited, but nothing happened. As she stood to go home, she heard a voice behind her say, "Mama?"
She turned to see her daughter surrounded by treasure, but she ignored all the glitter and sparkle, instead running to her daughter, scooping her up into a hug. When they were finally able to let each other go, they saw that the treasure was gone, but that there was a basketful of strawberries with a bow on it at the edge of the clearing.
They left with the basket, and came to find that the basket was always full of big, ripe, red, juicy strawberries, even in the middle of winter, and that the smell always filled their home. And, sometimes, just when they needed it most, a beautiful ruby would appear among the berries.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
