Once upon a time in a Kingdom far, far away, there was a Traveler walking along a lonely road. Her face was hidden under a dark hood and bent downwards as she moved very slowly and arduously because she was dragging behind her a heavy bag. “One stone for every mistake”, she replied to anyone who asked what was in it.
One particularly sunny day, she entered a small village and dragged her bag towards the local Inn. There was a terrace outside with beautiful wooden carved tables, and she went to take a seat. The Innkeeper, always having his eyes on his terrace to spot new customers, jolted out the door to welcome her. With a broad smile and wide open arms, he stepped towards her and gave his usual introduction:
“Welcome to The Open Inn, I am here to brighten up your day with whatever you desire, what do you wish, my lady? A hot coffee with fresh homemade cream? Or maybe a chocolate milkshake with sprinkles?”
“I am tired from my journey,” the Traveler mumbled, not very impressed, “just a plain coffee will do.”
“Whatever you wish, my lady! Coming right up!”
The Innkeeper disappeared inside to prepare the best plain coffee he could muster. “She did not give me a lot to work with here,” he mumbled, “but I love a good challenge any day of the week! The best plain coffee she ever had it will be!”
After a few minutes, the coffee was ready and he added some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, hoping to shake loose a little smile from under that dark hood.
“Your Plain Coffee is ready, my lady, I have added some fresh cookies for your pleasure, I do hope you enjoy.” He put the plate in front of the Traveler and made a deep bow in front of her. As he rose back up, he looked straight into the nostalgic gaze of a young child.
“The cookies look wonderful, thank you!”
For a few seconds, the Innkeeper was too baffled to reply. He expected to see a grown-up under that hood and he saw the face of a child, no more than 6 or 8 years old!
He pulled himself together and decided to go with his usual way of conversing with people: openly.
“I must stay I am a bit surprised, I thought when I first saw you that you were a grown-up, but you look like you are still a child! What am I missing here?
“I am old, but I am not grown-up,” the Traveler replied sadly, “I am too afraid to make mistakes.”
“I don’t understand?”
“With every mistake I make, another stone appears in my bag. I am afraid to do many things that are necessary to grow up, like riding a bicycle, driving a car, falling in love, chasing success, building a family, making dreams come true… I am afraid to do them because I am afraid to make mistakes, and mistakes are bound to happen when striving for these things! I am carrying so many mistakes already, I cannot take many more and I might still have a long life ahead. I must pace myself.”
“Who decides how many mistakes you can make?”, the Innkeeper wanted to know.
“I do! And I decide I cannot carry much more! Already I am moving so slowly because of my heavy load…”
“Why don’t you just get rid of your bag? Drop it somewhere, and just move on with your life and enjoy?”
“Because I would just make the same mistakes again!” the Traveler yelled at him, “I would not be able to live with that! I prefer carrying my mistakes, to make sure I never, ever make them again!”
“Have you ever taken a good look at them? Have you studied them, the stones?”, the Innkeeper replied, “It is common knowledge to learn from your mistakes, and then move on, so maybe your stones have something to teach you?”
The Traveler considered this and realized with a painful jolt that she had never thought of this. She was dumbfounded by the simplicity of the answer and whacked her hand to her head over her stupidity. Instantly a new stone popped into existence in her bag. She heard the small “PLOP” that accompanied the appearance of new stones, and decided there and then to stop feeling bad about having been so stupid, and start studying the new stone instead! She dove into the bag and found it instantly; it was still warm. She held it in her hand and inspected it closely. It was a very peculiar stone indeed, very smooth and with a different texture than stones usually have. “Wait…”, she thought, “Is this even a stone at all?? It actually looks more like a big seed!”
She looked up at the Innkeeper who had his big smile on again. “It seems like you just learned from your first mistake, uh, I mean, sprouted your first seed! Take a look at it!”
The Traveler looked at the seed in her hand and saw it cracking open as a tiny sprout popped it, just as she realized it was a waste of time to be afraid of her mistakes.
“All you need to do now is to plant it in your garden and keep watering it and giving it your love, and you will see the beauty that can come out of such a little seed,” the Innkeeper replied proudly.
“But I don’t have a garden!”, the Traveler cried out desperately, “Where do I plant it?”
“Right here”, the Innkeeper replied, as he took the seed from her hand and planted it in her heart.
“Love your mistakes, keep them close and transform them in the most beautiful garden you can imagine, and you will have a great life, my child.”
The Traveller kept growing the little sprout in her heart, and she called it, aptly: “Love-My-Mistakes”
It grew into a bush with beautiful flowers as the Traveler emptied her bag of seeds, blew each and every one into life, and added them to her garden. She started doing all the things that used to scare her and gathered many more seeds, which she all planted inside the beautiful garden that her heart had become, as she lived her life, happily ever after.
And the Innkeeper? He just giggled and went back inside his Inn to sneak in bed with his adorable wife, grateful for yet another satisfied customer.
The End.
Magical Stories that make Sense of Things 