THE BERRY TREE

One evening, the crocodile had taken home some sweet berries for his darling wife. On tasting them, the darling screamed with delight, “O my sweetheart, these berries are so sweet! Where did you find them?”

“Honey, my good friend, Monkey, gave them to give you,” the flattered husband replied, “He lives on the berry tree, across the river.”

“He must be eating those berries, every day; doesn’t he, my dear?” the wife said, a lot excited.

“Oh yes, yes, my sweet heart,” agreed the husband, “those nectar-sweet berries are his daily diet!”

“What a lucky soul, that Monkey must be!” the wife looked towards heavens!

Then, a short pause later, the wife came close to her hubby and began to caress him…

“So sweet of you!” the husband was enjoying every bit of it, “Tell me, what you want… I will get it for you!”

“Your friend’s heart!” Mrs. Crocodile said with loads of intimacy.

“Pardon me,” Mr. Crocodile found it hard to believe what he had just heard, “What did you say?”

“Darling, your friend lives on those delicious berries,” the wife held her hubby tightly and said, “his heart also must be so delicious… Please get me that!”

“I can’t do that, honey,” the annoyed husband told his wife, “he is my best friend.”

“If you love me, you have to get me his heart,” the lady began to shed her ‘crocodile tears’.

Well, you know what happened after that!

I love this story. In fact, I recount it, in our PD sessions, adding my own flavor… Particularly, I do it to tell our little Monkeys  from where has come the famous English phrase - ‘the crocodile tears’!

Today, I felt like doing it, once again. 

There is a reason.

An old student of mine had appeared, along with a young lady, in my office, this morning. Apparently, my dear old-student, who worked in a blue-chip company, had gifted to his darling some of the ‘berries from my tree’… I mean, some of my inspirational booklets… and the lady, it seems, was ‘floored’!

“Darling, if such lovely thoughts come from your teacher’s heart, his heart must be a treasure; isn’t it?” apparently, my student’s sweetheart had exclaimed, “Can you take me there – to the berry tree?”

So, this morning, the young-and-pretty lady-crocodile had come along with her man-crocodile… just with the hope to meet this Monkey… who lived on a treasure called – the ‘The Berry Tree’.

“You must be a very happy man,” 

the excited lady complimented me, 

“your wife and child must be 

very, very lucky!”

I almost fainted!

It took some sort of wisdom to convince this excited young-lady-crocodile that a Monkey’s heart doesn’t grow sweeter just because he diets on sweet berries all his life… That, those berries were sweet because, her man had gifted them to her with all his love!

“How sweet!” the lady crocodile placed her head on her beloved’s shoulder… Yes, with all the sweetness her heart had possessed.

After the crocodiles left, I had a story to tell!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Anita Dongre