Thought this was cute so I share it with you…

It was a fine summer’s day thought the Owl as he sat up in the tree, the grass was blowing in the wind and the sky a beautiful shade of blue, what heaven! As he sat there taking in the surrounding beauty his eye caught movement coming towards him, it was a little grasshopper and the poor thing was crying his eyes out.

The grasshopper came right up to the tree oblivious of the owl and plopped down, sobbing his eyes out. The sight of the crying grasshopper confused the owl as he could see no reason for the little grasshopper to cry, after a few moments the owl decided to ask him.

“Why are you crying little grasshopper, it is a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the wind is a breeze and there is not a cloud in the sky?”. Hearing the owls voice the little grasshopper jumped in the air with fright looking up to see where the voice in the sky came from. “It is me little grasshopper, up here, I am the Wise Owl, who are you?”

“Owl that is wise” sobbed the little grasshopper “They call me Shorty because I am so small” and let out another sob.

The owl shakes his head “But Shorty is not the name for you, you are still growing and it is not a name that will last for all of time, you are more a Jiminy, that is what I shall call you, Jiminy you shall be from this day forward”.

The little grasshopper looked up at the owl in the tree “But Wise Owl why Jiminy? I am short that is why they call me that”. The owl looks down again and shakes his head “You mean you have never heard of Jiminy the cricket?” Little Grasshopper shakes his head “uh huh nooo, who is he?”.

The owl flutters down from his branch and lands right next to the little grasshopper “Jiminy Cricket is the most famous cricket in all the world, he was small just like you are now, but he was far from your average cricket that is one thing for sure. Now Jiminy, he was clever as clever could be, one day he was stuck high up in a tree just like this one here, he couldn’t jump down with fear of breaking a leg. This didn’t scare him at all, he just opened up his umbrella and used it as a parachute landing on the ground safely”. The little grasshoppers eyes opened wide “whoa but that is clever AND brave, wow he sounds amaaaaazing!”. The owl smiled down “That’s not all, he was clever in many things, he had patience and when he couldn’t do something he came up with another plan. He was small but that never stopped him, ah the tales I could tell you about Jiminy the Cricket”

“Was he your friend?” asked the little grasshopper. The owl looked off into the distance with a smile of pure happiness on his face “Yes young one, he was a good friend of mine, he taught me many things in this life, taught me about true friendship, love, how to hear not only see and best yet he taught me how to listen to my soul”.

The little grasshopper started to fidget excitedly “Wise Owl, will you, will you teach me to?”. The wise owl picked the little grasshopper up and put him on his wing “If you are willing to learn young one, I will teach you, but you must know that at times it will not be easy, you will get scared, you will get frustrated and most of all you will need to learn patience”. The little grasshopper looked up at the owl and smiled “Wise Owl, I can do anything, I will learn if you teach me, I will try my hardest, I will not fail you I promise”.

Wise owl shakes his head “No young one it is not about failing, we all make mistakes in our life time, it is about being willing to learn, accepting that one day you will fall and that when you do it is ok, it’s about patience, doing things when you are ready and not hopping ahead” the little grasshopper was now getting nervous “erm Wise Owl, do you honestly think I can do it? Because see, I want to learn as fast as possible, I want to be big like you and wise like you to”.

The owl smiled down once again “Young one have you ever heard the tale of the rabbit and the tortoise?”. The little grasshopper shook his head “Nope, never heard of those two, who are they?”.

The wise owl looked at the little grasshopper and smiled “It is not who they are that matters it is more the lesson that they give. One day the rabbit went up to a crowd standing at the side of the path and asked who would be interested in daring to try and beat him in a race to the end of the path. At first there was just silence, none of the other animals could believe the rabbit’s arrogance at thinking he could beat everyone. After a few moments the tortoise stuck his head out of his shell and said that indeed he would race the rabbit. With that the rabbit just burst out laughing and told the tortoise that if he didn’t mind being embarrassed by losing they could race. So the finish line was chalked out and the two set off on the race, the other animals were cheering for the tortoise but the rabbit was fast and he flew ahead. The speed of the rabbit didn’t seem to phase the tortoise who just continued to plod towards the finish line. The rabbit eventually stopped about 10m from the finish line, looking back he could not see the tortoise at all, he was panting and out of breath, suddenly exhaustion over took him and he decided that there was enough time for a quick nap”

“Wasn’t the tortoise scared of losing?” asked the little grasshopper.

“Hold on young one, patience… So the rabbit took his nap and the tortoise kept on plodding away. It took a long time for the tortoise to get to the finish line, he kept steady and didn’t rush himself. As he plodded along he passed a snoring rabbit on the side of the road. He called to the rabbit but the rabbit didn’t budge, after a while the tortoise decided that the rabbit was just not going to wake up so he continued up the path to the finish line. Suddenly, as the tortoise was about to cross the line, the rabbit shot up in the air with fright realising that he had overslept. With that the rabbit started running as fast as he could towards the finish line but the tortoise was too far in front and crossed it with time to spare. Why did the tortoise win the race young one?

“Because the rabbit thought he was clever by speeding ahead only to tire himself out, the tortoise was the clever one, he took it steady and took his time careful not to tire himself out” piped the little grasshopper. “And what else?” asked the owl. “The tortoise won because he had patience!” replied the grasshopper excitedly.

“Yes, little one, the tortoise won the race because he had patience, to learn you need patience, if you rush ahead you will lose important lessons, you will tire yourself out and be half the grasshopper you could be had you just slowed down. Do you understand Jiminy?” asked the owl.

“Yes Wise Owl, I will try to take it slower, I will learn all there is to learn and one day when I am older I will make you proud”.

“Pride is what I have in you already young one, it is my wish that you be all you can be, first you need to love yourself for who you are and what you are, no more of this wishing you were big and strong like the other grasshoppers, no more I can’t do this or I’m pathetic’s, no more I am short therefore I am short… If you were all that why would I be speaking to you huh?” smiled the owl. Hearing all of this the little grasshopper started to cry quickly trying to wipe the tears on his cheeks away before the owl spotted them.

“Why are you crying young one?” asked the owl. Sniffing the little grasshopper looked away from the owl in embarrassment “Because no one believed that I am more than just short, they always told me that I couldn’t do things, that I shouldn’t because I will just fail. Now you are telling me that if I learn, anything is possible, never had anyone believe in me before” sniffed the little grasshopper

The owl handed the little grasshopper a tissue and said “Jiminy its time I share with you what your namesake used to tell me all the time. Hold it close through this journey and remember it when you think you can’t do anything for the words are more true than the clouds in the sky”. The little grasshopper looked up into the owl’s eyes expectantly.

“Jiminy said that when your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. Do you understand?”

The little grasshopper sat thinking for a few moments and then smiled up at the owl “If you really want something with all of your heart anything is possible?”

“Yes young one and that is why you are Jiminy not Shorty, let your conscience be your guide” smiled the owl

With that Jiminy jumped off the owls wing and fluttered to the ground, he seemed to have a new confidence about him, stood taller than before, his eyes dry, he looked up at the wise owl “Thank you Wise Owl, thank you for your wisdom, for caring about me even though I am short, thank you for inspiring me, I will do my best and I will try my hardest, thank you”

Moral of the story? If you believe in yourself anything is possible, it’ll pick up when you fall and will give you the courage to face anything that comes your way.