Saturday - Seven Ladies and Han

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 - SATURDAY STORY

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Aside.  It was in my second year at Quinnipiac University.  I had returned from teaching my 9:00 class and walked through the School of Business lobby.  The lobby was crowded - and all were looking at the TV monitor.  A reporter was showing video of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center - and the resulting fireball and smoke enveloped the two buildings.  I forgot about office hours and watched with the others in amazed horror as hate too over.  

From I heard the bells on Christmas Day:

“And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor does He sleep,
For Christ is here; His Spirit near
Brings peace on earth, good will to men.”

I have adopted a mantra - LOVE WINS!!  And, I do believe that LOVE WINS.  God is NOT DEAD, nor does He sleep!!!

As we remember that day where it seemed that hate had won, we must remember that LOVE does WIN.  1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 

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Continuation of last week’s Saturday Story.

Grumpy Dwarf has been kicked out of the Seven Dwarfs home.  Actually, it was a seven to zero vote - as even he voted himself out.  He was always complaining, always grumpy, never happy and a real pain to live with. 

He walked for miles in the next four days and exhausted and starved collapsed near a barn.  But, he fainted in a great place - the farm of the seven fair ladies - Grace, Sunny, Lily, Gladys, Mercy, Rose, and Joy.  They nursed him back to life.  Grumpy found he never had enough food or sleep and worked long hours in the mines.  In this new location he flourished - even so much so that the fair ladies called him “Han” - short for handsome!!!

Within a year, the fair ladies' farm - with Han’s help - prospered.  They added two cows, sold produce in the nearby village, and enlarged their gardens and farm land.  

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Sunny Lady had been taken to Han and was almost always with him.  But, really all of the ladies were in love with Han.  Gladys made him clothes, Grace (who seemed to be the eldest and the leader of the Seven Ladies) asked for his advice on almost everything.  Mercy, the beautician, trimmed his beard and cut his hair.  There hadn’t been any mirrors at the Seven Dwarfs cottage, but Grumpy had seen his visage in the pond.  But, now as Han, he barely recognized himself - other than those deepset, brown eyes.  (Of course, with a farm of seven women, there were mirrors all over the place!!)

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But, for the good in the world, there was still bad.  Evin McGrue owned the farm about four miles from the Lovely Ladies and he hated them.  He hated that their land prospered and that they were also so happy.

Evin snuck over to the Lovely Ladies farm and put alum in the water for the cows.  Just a little alum at first, and then a little more.  The cows started to lose weight and their milk slowly dried up.  A bag of weed seeds was tossed around their gardens and the weeds grew quickly in the fine soil.  Han suspected some foul play in the problems that seemed to spring up.  

Even as the ladies and Han went into town, people who had always been friendly seemed cool and aloof as Evin McGrue had spread rumors about the ladies growing drugs, and being witches.  And where they got top prices for their produce, fine linens, and sweet jellies, the townsfolk didn’t want to pay top dollar anymore.

Han suspected something.  His nose was both big and warty but was also able to sniff out trouble.  The water for the cows just didn’t smell right to Han.  He tried an experiment.  With two of the potted marigold plants, he watered one of the plants with water from the cow’s watering trough, and the other with water from their well.  Within a few days, the one who got the alumn water dried up, while the other was thriving.  He dumped the cow's water and filled their watering trough with fresh water every day, and soon they were giving milk again.  

He and Sunny worked harder than ever digging weeds out of the garden before they could blossom and send out their seeds.  It was hard work.  Mercy and Lily joined them in that task.  

Then, Han noticed the alum had been thrown into the well.  That was a little harder to fix.  He fixed up a pool from a nearby stream to catch fresh water and they used that water for their chores, cooking and cleaning, and added the water to the well - which diluted the bad water.  

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Meanwhile in the forest a long ways away, the dwarfs had troubles too.  The evil witch who had put the spell on Snow White was back in the area and causing trouble.  The dwarfs found the mine entrance closed from a rock slide.  A fire in their barn killed one of their mules that helped in the mine and Doc found evidence that this was arson.  Soon they set up a system where there was one dwarf at the mine at all times, and one dwarf at their cottage and homestead at all times.  

The night that Sneezy was on duty at the mine, he saw the witch using her magic to knock rocks to close the mine.  Unfortunately as he was about to capture her, he sneezed and she got away.  

Likewise, a few days later, it was Sneezy’s duty to watch the homestead one day when the witch appeared to set a fire to the barn.  He sneezed and chased her away.  

The dwarfs found themselves very tired and cranky from their rotating shifts protecting their lands.  

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Back at the Lovely Ladies farm, the pregnant cow delivered a stillborn calf.  Han suspected the alum in the water.  

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To be completed next Saturday!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen