In which we start the Gift of Stories with the first part of a story

Filling the House (part one)
There once was a farmer who had three sons. The time was coming for the farmer to retire, but he didn’t know which of his sons should inherit the house, the farm, and all the animals.

He decided to have a contest.

He gave each boy a small coin—worth about a dollar—and told them to use the coin to buy something to fill up the house.

Whichever of them could fill the house most completely would inherit everything.

The eldest son took his coin and went for a walk.

He walked for nearly an hour until he came to the farm of a neighbor.

The neighbor was in the field, raking straw.

“How much straw could I buy with this coin?” the boy asked. The farmer sold an entire wagonload of straw for the coin.

The boy unloaded all the sweet-smelling straw into the house, and the straw covered the floor in the entire house about 2 feet deep.

The middle son took his coin and went for a walk.

He walked for nearly two hours, until he came to the farm of a different neighbor.

This neighbor was in the barn, raking up chicken feathers.

“How many feathers could I buy with this coin?” asked the boy. The farmer sold 20 bags of feathers for the coin.

The boy unloaded all the feathers into the house, and the feathers covered the floor and all the chairs in the house, about 4 feet deep.

The youngest son took his coin and went for a walk. He walked most of the day, all the way into town.

When he got there, the sun was starting to go down.

The boy went into the little store, and when he came out, he carried a little paper bag.

The boy walked all the way home. When he got there, it was very dark.

He called the family together, and with everyone watching, he took from his bag six little candles.

He carefully lit the candles and carried them to all the rooms of the house.

When the family looked around, they saw that the youngest boy had filled the entire house

…with light. 

Readers are welcome to forward the link to this page, copy/paste the text, re-tell this story over the campfire or the watercooler, and otherwise help it move out into the world.  Please remember that it came to you from Haiku Farm, with love.