The Bean Garden

The Bean Garden
For Alan



Once upon a time there was a little boy, who, one day, while tending to his modest little garden, found a bean. Now this was no normal bean, but a truly excellent one! This bean was far above average in appearance, shape, color and size. The little boy was elated that his humble garden could produce such an excellent specimen. He was sure that he must have a very valuable garden for it to be able to produce this unusual bean. In his excitement the little boy ran strait off to his neighbor’s garden. His neighbor was much older and more skilled in gardening. The boy couldn’t wait to show him this amazing bean! To the little boy’s disappointment, however, his neighbor was not at all impressed with his bean.

“It’s a freak of nature!” his neighbor told him, “You’ll do well to just get rid of that one, it’s not a natural thing! Much worse than any weed!”

The little boy couldn’t believe his ears! How could this bean, produced by his garden, be such a bad thing? Unwilling to relent, he sought out the advice of another neighbor, this one older and a far better gardener than the last.

“That’s a bad one, indeed!” replied his other neighbor, “Plant that and it will take over your whole garden, kill all of your other plants and may even grow into our gardens, corrupting everything! Get rid of it, for all of our sakes!”

Again, this was not what the little boy wanted to hear, and again he went to other neighbors to ask their opinion, and all were the same. Everyone who saw the bean saw it as a very bad and unnatural thing and advised the little boy to toss it out. This crushed the little boy. He felt it was the only thing his garden had produced so far that set it apart from the others making it and him very special. He knew he could not just throw it out, regardless of his neighbors’ advice, after all, it was his bean! So, he bitterly stuffed it into his pocket and made no more mention of it to anyone.

The little boy returned to his garden, but his passion for gardening had waned. He attended to the plants in his garden, but without the love of before. As far as the little boy was concerned, the one thing that could make his garden special was considered unnatural by all whom saw it, so, what was the point? Nothing else in his garden could be more special than his wondrous bean. He often just sat in his garden rubbing the bean in his pocket and wondering what it would be like if he planted it and allowed it to grow to its full potential.

As time went by, the little boy cared less and less about the other plants in his little garden. What little gardening he did do was usually spent tending a small plot of ground where nothing was planted. Although he couldn’t bring himself to plant his bean, his desire to do so became stronger than even his will to survive. His neighbors had notice that the little boy’s garden was becoming overgrown with weeds and the plants in it unhealthy as well as the little boy, for he was not producing enough in his garden to keep himself well fed. They tried to convince the little boy to take better care of his garden, but the little boy was unresponsive to his neighbors.

One day, as the little boy sat in his garden, thinking on his bean, he overheard some of his neighbors discussing the quality of his garden with each other as they passed by.

“That one’s garden will never amount to anything!” commented the first neighbor.

“So true,” agreed the second. “He’ll never see Master Gardner status for sure, he’ll be lucky to even live that long! He can’t even feed himself off of what is produced from that garden!”

Embittered, the little boy pulled out his amazing bean from his pocket. “I’ll show them who the Master Gardener is!” he vowed, “This bean from my garden will become the most incredible bean plant ever!” And with that he planted his bean in the small plot of ground he had already made ready.

The little boy spent all his time tending his precious bean plant as it grew and to his delight it grew quickly, and just as he had hoped, it grew to be a truly amazing bean plant. As the little boy’s loving efforts began to show, his neighbors began to take notice. The little boy’s bean plant frightened them, for it quickly took over the little boy’s garden, choking out all the other plants.

“Cut it down!” cried his neighbors; “It will become uncontrollable, grow into our gardens and choke out all of our plants as well! Your actions will cause the starvation and death of all of us!”

The little boy just ignored them as they yelled out at his garden gate. Eventually he posted a “No Trespassing” sign and built a wall around his garden to keep out his neighbors’ intolerant eyes. News of the little boys bean plant traveled quickly throughout the land. Many people came to mock the little boy’s bean plant, but other came to marvel at it. Many that marveled at it tried to be the little boy’s companion, but the companionship never lasted very long. All that the little boy had to offer his companions were beans. His companions soon grew malnourished, no matter how much they enjoyed the beans from his bean plant, and were forced for their own survival to leave the little boy and his garden.

One day, a Master Gardener came to the little boy’s community. All his neighbors couldn’t wait to show their lovely gardens to the Master Gardener and perhaps be named Master Gardener them selves. The little boy was no exception, for this was what he had been working all this time to accomplish.

The Master Gardner made his rounds, visiting everyone’s garden. When he came to the little boy’s garden, the little boy was waiting for the Master Gardner by the gate to his garden. With much pride, the little boy led the Master into his garden. The Master Gardener was indeed impressed with the little boy’s bean plant. The vines of the bean plat curled through out the entire garden and climbed up the garden walls.

“This surely is a most excellent bean plant!” proclaimed the Master Gardner, “Where did you get the bean from which this plant grows?”

“It came from this very garden” proudly replied the little boy.

“Well,” said the Master Gardner, “it certainly must have been an amazing bean to produce such a plant that can take over your whole garden like this. Ah yes,” he nodded “there certainly is a masterful quality in this garden, but I’m afraid that the master here is not the gardener!”

Bewildered, the little boy looked around in a moment of realization. Out of his bitterness he had allowed his wonderful bean plant to choke out everything else important to him just to prove how valuable his bean really was. That day the little boy realized that it took far more work then just attending to one special plant to even be considered a gardener.

Starting slowly at one corner of his garden, the little boy began to cut back his bean plant. Working his way through his garden, he dug down into the roots of the other plants and cut away the roots of the bean plant, giving each plant its own place to grow and thrive. With the loving skills that he learned from tending his bean plant, he brought each of his plants back to life and the bean plant was confined to its own place in the garden. This task took the little boy a very long time, and when his garden finally became a fully producing one, he was no longer a little boy, but a young man. He had grown strong with his garden, and as he took care of it, it nourished him.

The walls around his garden fell down over time from neglect, and other’s began to see the young man’s garden and were amazed. Soon the young man had no shortage of companions. Some of his companions were drawn to his unusual bean plant and could appreciate its unique beauty. For those who did not care for his bean plant, he had much more in his garden to offer them, each plant as excellent at the last. Most of his neighbors no longer feared his bean plant, for it was well controlled in its fullest potential.

Everyday, the young man tended lovingly to his entire garden, never neglecting any of his plants, including his beloved bean plant. And, at the end of the day, he could often be found resting under the climbing vines of the bean plant, for it was his favorite place in his garden. The Master Gardener never again visited him, but many still considered the young man to have achieved true Master Gardener status.

This honor was made apparent one day when a little girl stumbled into his garden as he sought rest under his bean plant.

“Master” she addressed him as she approached, and held out her tiny fist.

The young man offered her his open hand, and in it she dropped one of the most extraordinary beans he had ever seen!

“Master, they tell me that this bean which has come from my own garden is unnatural and worse than a weed. What should I do with it?”

The young man smiled at the little girl. “Put it in your pocket,” he replied, “and return to your garden. Prepare a place for this bean, but only after you have tended lovingly to your other plants. Make sure the other plants in your garden are strong and healthy and able to withstand the presence of the magnificent plant that will be produced from this bean. When you are able to sustain yourself and share with other the produce of your garden, then plant your bean. Never give it more care than any other plant in your garden, for it can easily become your master. But take care not to neglect it either, for it will add character and dimension to your garden, and you will have much to offer your companions.”

Then, handing the wondrous bean back to the little girl, he advised, “Any plant in your garden can become worse than a weed if not carefully mastered.”

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