“A long, long, long, long, long time ago – as long as you can imagine, there was an old man who was very lonely and also not well off; under the poverty line. One day, he was searching all over his body, all kinds of pockets, if he had any money, and then finally he found one penny in his pocket. And he was asking himself, ‘I have only one penny like this. What can I do?’ So then, after thinking for a while, he went to the market to see all the things that are arranged in that market.”
Now, do you want to hear a story or not? A very simple one. (Oh, yes. Yes, Master. Sure, Master.) (Thank You, Master.) Unless you have any questions, or any other things to tell me? (No, Master.) OK, good.
Many people are sad because the Queen died, so maybe I just read you guys a story. And maybe they can also listen to dissipate their sadness a little. (Yes, thank You, Master. Thank You. Thank You, Master.)
So, this story is also from this Jewish folklore, and the title is: “The Lonely Old Man Who Lost His Bean.” (Yes, Master.) You will know what kind of bean. You can hear well, right? (Yes, Master. We hear well. We can.)
“A long, long, long, long, long time ago – as long as you can imagine, there was an old man who was very lonely and also not well off; under the poverty line. One day, he was searching all over his body, all kinds of pockets, if he had any money, and then finally he found one penny in his pocket.” (Oh.) One penny. Probably at the time, one penny was worth more than one dollar nowadays. Yeah, maybe.
“And he was asking himself, ‘I have only one penny like this. What can I do?’ So then, after thinking for a while, he went to the market to see all the things that are arranged in that market. But he had only one penny. What can anyone buy? Can anyone even buy anything that is worth any value? He was thinking, running around, but finally, in order to keep his mouth a little bit less bored, he bought a piece of peanut candy.” (OK.) One piece. Yes.
“And then he was chewing his peanut candy and walking on the road. And then he passed a well, and at that time, in his hand, he had only one peanut candy left. And he wanted to put it in his mouth, but the peanut went astray.” (Oh. Oh, dear.)
And you know where it landed. In the well. (Oh. Oh, gosh.) “This poorest of the poor old man felt so terrible. And then he stood at the mouth of the well and looked down and screamed, ‘My God, my God, my God. My peanut. My peanut is gone, gone.’ And he was very, very sad.
And then, suddenly the water in the well became like a circle, circle, circle and made a strange noise. (Wow.) And then a little devil popped his head out from that circulating water. His head appeared in the middle of this whirling water. And he said, ‘Are you crazy, old man? Why are you making so much noise? Who can bear it?’ So, the old man said, ‘I want to have my peanut back.’ So, the little devil went and dived to the bottom of the well and tried to find that peanut for the old man. He tried all his best, but he could not find it. (Oh.) So, his head appeared once more, and he said to the old man, ‘It’s gone, it’s gone. Gone.’
So, the old man said, ‘How? How? What do you mean by gone? I had really one peanut, so clear and so visible, how can it be gone?’ So, the little devil said, ‘I have tried my best but I cannot find it, but if you stop yelling and crying then I will give you something better.’ (Oh.)
So, the old man asked, ‘What will you give me?’ So, the little devil said, ‘I will give you a pot.’” Like a teapot or something like that. (Yes, Master.) “‘I will give you a teapot which has magical powers. (Wow.) So, anytime you feel hungry, you can ask this teapot to give you anything you want, even a big mountain of peanuts, or any other food. (Wow, that’s good.) And moreover, whatever and however much you want, it will give you as much as you want.’
So, the old man said, ‘But what if you cheat me then? If you fool me?’ And the little devil said, ‘No, no, no, no. You know how to find this well again, no? If I tell you a lie, you will find this well again.’” Meaning, “You know where I live.” (Yes, Master.) “‘So here, take this teapot. If you think I fooled you, then you can come back here anytime, no?’
So, the old man listened to that, took the teapot and went home. When he came home, he closed the door and immediately he ordered – he said, ‘Oh, teapot, I’m hungry now.’ And then immediately from the teapot flowed down a lot, a lot, a lot of beans. (Wow.) Not just the one that he lost. And they fell all over everywhere.
So, the old man told the teapot, ‘But I don’t want that thing. I want a lot, a lot of food with a lot of vegetables and fruits, like grapes, cashew nuts, and all that.’ (Ah.) So, immediately from the teapot came everything that he asked, and still piping hot. (Wow.) And so much, so much that the old man could keep eating, eating but he could never finish. Now, he felt his stomach was warm and his body felt well.
And then he left his house and went to the neighbor’s to just chat. (Ah, right.) And what did the neighbors hear from the old man? Of course, it’s about the food! And some neighbors said, ‘Oh I have eaten this, I have eaten that beautiful food.’ And the other one said, ‘Oh, I also ate this and that very rare delicacy.’ And one of the neighbors said, ‘Oh, you don’t know, the day before yesterday, I ate some baked pie. And a very, very special one.’” It had some special, rare things inside that pie. (Yes.) It’s like we make vegan minced pies, or stuff like that. (Yes, Master.) “And one of the neighbors said, ‘You don’t know. Yesterday, I ate some of the most famous foods in the world.’
And then, after hearing all that, the lonely old man said to them, ‘Ah, all the things that you have told us are only as valuable as one peanut only. How can anything compare to the wonderful things that I just ate some minutes ago? If you don’t believe me, I will go home and bring all that here for you so that you can enjoy all this first-class food that you would never be able to eat without me. (Oh.) And even all the days from your birth until your death, you would never ever taste such a thing.’ (Oh.)
And then, immediately, the lonely old man returned home, and he went to pat-pat the teapot and said, ‘Hey, teapot, I want a big meal, enough for five people, and only the best things in the world.’ So, immediately, of course, the teapot produced all kinds of delicacies. Nobody had ever seen them before, and if anybody saw it, they would immediately want to eat them. And then the old man brought all this food to his neighbors.
And after just having a glance at it, everybody’s faces became so bright, happy and smiling. And they asked, ‘Hey, uncle, where did you get these delicacies? And so many like that?’ So, the lonely old man said, ‘All of you, my precious friends, just have peace. From now on, whatever you want, you will have it. I will bring it to you. But you are not allowed to ask where they come from. It’s a secret.’” (Ah.)
