Week 7 Story: The Prideful Man

 The Prideful Man

There once was a humble man named Thertle who tried to appreciate all parts of his life. This wasn't easy to do for him, because he did not have much that he felt he could appreciate. He was a high school drop out, his family had lost contact with him, and he had virtually no friends. That is, unless you can count Miss Goose from the famous "two-flavor" ice cream parlor, but she was friends with everyone.

He wanted what she had. Not in a greedy, envious way, but in an honest way. She knew everyone, and was loved by everyone, she had a business, a family, a stable income. And most importantly, she loved life.

One day, like a turtle coming out of its shell, Thertle gained the guts to approach Miss Goose in a way that led to something other than small talk. He wanted to ask how he could get started with restarting life so he could learn to appreciate it like she did. 

"Miss Goose, how can I be like you? You're loving, successful, and have a family that you love going home to. I have nothing and no one has me. What can I do?" Thertle asked.

"Don't say that! You ARE loved!" Miss Goose replied.

Thertle was a homeless, unsuccessful man. One thing, for sure, however, was that he was NOT unaware. He knew Miss Goose was the only the only one who would think to help him out on a rainy day. 

So the deeper parts of the conversation began. He escaped his shell, cut the small talk, and poured his life out to her, more than she had ever seen or heard. With that, she offered him his first job in 10 years, and he was set to start the following week.

Miss Goose did all of only to ask that he was to stay humble and loyal.

Thertle made sure to work as hard as he could. He would arrive early, stay late, and he even learned to make new friends by being extremely kind to all the customers. He finally became somebody. 

Thertle wanted to give back to Miss Goose; to do so, he would spend his off-days concocting new flavors for the store. Combinations, innovations, bright ideas, all led to him feeling like Willy Wonka.

These ideas received pouring amounts of support. So much so that he was interviewed by the daily newspaper on his new ice cream ideas!

"How did you ever come up with chocolate peanut butter? How about Chocolate vanilla swirl?? We never thought to combine flavors. We are so used to the two plain-old flavors of Miss Goose!" asked an interviewer.

Soon, Thertle was on newspaper headlines, television shows, and even took some pictures with the town's mayor. He was what he always wanted to be. Then, he began to lose control.

The fame got to his head, and he became hysterical with attention; he started his own ice cream shop and abused the workers so much verbally that they quit on him. Miss Goose began to lose her business as she couldn't compete with Thertle, and his friends saw the greed in him and left him; most importantly, he lost his innovation to come up with new flavors.

And so, he spiraled to the cold, hard ground. 

He soon thought back to his days with Miss Goose, the first day in particular in which he promised to her that he would stay humble and to be loyal. He had broke that promise, and that led to his demise. 

If only he had stayed humbled.

-- Author's Note --

My story seems a little dark, but it is based on the Jataka tale of The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. In this story, there was a turtle who had wished and dreamed to fly. One day, some geese offered to fly him to a new place. Obviously, the turtle was wondering how they would make this happen, so they replied that they would both hold onto an end of a stick and he would hold onto the middle. As long as he kept his mouth on the stick, he would be able to fly. With this, they made the one and only exception/request to this turtle to stay quiet. When he opened his mouth  to reply to some kids belittling him, he fell, as he was no longer holding onto the stick.

I switched this story up to fit a human and a business more, as it felt more relevant to some people's lives. People can take things for granted when they are given to them, and more importantly, it should be said that keeping promises is a big deal, and to always to do so. That is what I wanted to represent in my story mostly, to stay loyal and humble, which is what Thertle did not do, and that had led to his demise.

Ellen Babbit. Jataka Tales. Source.

Thertle began to come up with so many innovative flavors