THE MYSTICAL COIN

  “Throughout the centuries, a lot of mysteries and stories travelled along the Silk Road. Travelers would come far and wide to discover and trade their goods with each other. They would tell their adventurous stories and it would be passed on from one country to another -------
        “Miss Ferro?” a student raised his hand.
        “What is it? Thomas,” she smiled and asked him.
        Thomas stood up and answered, “Would you mind telling us a tale in the Silk Road?”
          Miss Ferro crossed her arms. “Well…………..” she considered.
          “Please Miss. It would be so much fun!!” Thomas said excitedly.
          Miss Ferro smiled.
          She was about to say something when the whole class shouted “Pretty Please!!!!!!!!” they giggled.
          The teacher sighed. “Okay, okay…….” she said hopelessly.
          “Yeah!” the whole class cheered.
          “But”--- they lowered their volume ---- “If I tell you the story, you have to tell me the lesson you’ve learnt from it, okay?” Miss Ferro told them.
          The students responded with a big “YES!”
          The classroom was silent only able to hear the clock ticking by the minute. From the outside, you could hear the winds blowing through the leaves making sounds that seemed they were whispering. Birds were chirping and singing in harmony. Miss Ferro sat on her sit and poured herself a cup of hot coffee from her thermos, while the students eagerly waited for her to start.
          As usual, Miss Ferro began with “A long long time ago”. 
        There was a village that was situated between the mountains and the deserts. The villagers were poor, they had limited water supply and had a shortage of food. They couldn’t support their family let alone themselves. The children of the village would often cry out of hunger as the adults would work hard to find enough food for everyone. Life wasn’t going easy for them, judging in terms of where they were living. At daylight, the temperature would be scorching hot enough to burn or melt the skins.  When the sun sets, it would be as cold as ice as the winds would blow brutally throughout the night. The villagers were just simply having a hard life.
        One day, the villagers were working hard on their work as a traveler appeared. He was desperately dragging himself along the sand. More than that, he was badly injured. He was bleeding from the wounds he had all over his body. Tears, sweat and blood rolled down his cheeks, you could see from his face that he was in agony. The traveler kept on going but he lost consciousness and fell lifelessly on the hot sand that lay beneath him.
      The villagers felt aghast by this sudden scene. They hesitated to approach the traveler since they didn’t know who he was and where he came from. However, a young girl who was the age of nine or ten stepped out to help. She was curious to find out who he was since they don’t usually see these kinds of things happen. She reached out her hand to check whether he was still breathing.
    “Mina!”
  The girl’s hand flinched when she heard her mother call. She turned around and saw her mother coming towards her and grabbed her hand away from the strange traveler.
    “What are you doing?!” mother asked her with a worried face.
  “Mommy, we should help him. If we don’t he’ll die,” she pointed at the traveler.
    Her mother looked from the lifeless traveler on the ground to her daughter whose eyes were pleading for her to help the stranger.
  “What’s going on here?” someone asked.
    All the villagers turned around and the chief came out. He stood tall with pride, had a long white beard and looked very wise. The villagers made way for him when he approached the traveler.
  “Chief, what should we do about him?” Mina’s mother asked him while holding her child.
  The chief frowned and thought for a moment. “For now, we should treat him with care, he doesn’t have much time as it seems,” he said with a husky voice. He beckoned the men of the village to help carry the stranger. They placed him on the most comfortable bed they could give him, while the women treated his wounds.
  Mina stood by the door until everyone left. She crept into the room and saw the traveler sleeping silently on the hard wooden bed. Out of the dark, something shined and it caught Mina’s eyes. She went closer to take a look and discovered an object the traveler was still unconsciously clutching on. Mina hesitated at first but she forcibly took the object from his hand out of curiosity. She felt disappointed when she found that it was just a black coin. At the same time, a hand came out and grabbed her arm. Mina let out a small shriek but immediately covered her mouth.
    “Don’t touch it,” the traveler breathed heavily. His eyes were slightly open but they were staring at Mina.
    Mina gulped. “Why………” her voice shook when it came out of her mouth.
  “Do not………ever……wish….for anything. The outcome…..would be dangerous…..” he warned her.
    Mina bit her lips. “I don’t know……what you’re saying,” she avoided looking at him.
The traveler coughed roughly and continued, “Throw or destroy it as fast as you ca----cough---- can. Just don’t………..”Before he could finish his sentence, his eyelids slowly closed and he was unconscious again.
  Mina stared at the traveler as his words of warning kept on repeating inside her head. Mina thought it didn’t seem like it was something special. She flipped the coin back and forth while she thought what is it that the traveler found so important that he would hold onto it so tightly. For the meantime, Mina decided to keep it until she knows what to do.
  Days would pass and Mina would always stare at the coin for hours and wonder what the traveler had said. No matter what she does, she always thinks about it and it wouldn’t leave her mind like an addiction.
  “Isn’t life hard? I should be enjoying myself being old and not be working,” Mina overheard the villagers chatting when she was playing with the children of the village.
  “You’re right but what can we do. We have to support our family the best we can,” Mina saw her mother say to the old man who was butchering a goat.
  “Our children are important to us even the chief is helping out to support everyone in the village.” a middle aged woman said while she burnt the chopped wood to make fire.
    The old man shook his head and sighed. “Don’t you wish a miracle could happen, like perhaps we could be wealthy and live happily,” he laughed as the women laughed along with him.
  Mina stared at them from afar. “Miracle?” she thought. “I wish I could do something for the village. I also want everyone to live happily and not suffer. But what can I do?” Mina held onto the coin and stared at it with a sadden face. “It really would be nice if we were rich,” she mumbled to herself. Without noticing, the black coin shined for a few seconds.
    As the sun rose the next day, Mina woke up by the sound of her mother shouting at her. “Wake up, Mina!!” her mother said breathlessly. Mina yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Huh, what?” she said, feeling confused.
  Mina’s mother dragged her outside the house. “Look. Do you believe this?!” she shouted.
  Mina rubbed her eyes and couldn’t believe what she saw. At the center of the village, there were bags of spices and fabrics of clothes made out of silk scattered on the ground. Vine baskets were filled with fresh fruits and vegetables and jars of water and wine were placed. The empty pots that the villagers had nothing to put in, is now packed with gold shiny coins. Everyone was shocked as they tried to digest the whole situation.
  “How did this happen?” the villagers asked with amazement. They didn’t know what to do. They just laughed and thought it was just a dream. But when they all went and touched all the things, they realized that it was actually real. Some of them jumped with such happiness, while some cried and hugged their kids. They didn’t care where it all came from, they were just simply happy. Mina held the black coin tightly and a smile lit up on her face. “Miracles do happen….” She giggled to herself.
    From then on, the villagers lived their days with relaxation and started to enjoy everything they had. The food and water would never run out, it somehow would just keep on appearing like a never ending flow. Their dirty ragged clothes would be replaced by good material cloth and they would sleep on comfortable beds with no sore waking up the next morning. Gold coins would also just keep on pouring into the pots like water and the villagers would spend it like it was nothing. It came to the point that the villagers started to feel unsatisfied until they bought everything that was made out of gold.
  The traveler who wasn’t forgotten was also treated with care. He woke up after a long coma and Mina was always there to visit him. She felt happy that the traveler came to the village and gave them this miracle and she couldn’t thank him enough. Mina would always hold onto the black coin and brought it wherever she went. She was just very thrilled that the traveler woke up to see this miracle. She told him everything and his face changed. The reaction wasn’t as how Mina would have imagined it. She thought he would be happy but instead he was angry.
  “Didn’t I tell you to throw that coin away!!” he shouted angrily.
    Mina got surprised and said, “But why? It won’t harm anyone………and it brought a lot of fortune to our village,”
    “That coin is cursed. Throw it away right now,” his face was red and his eyes were bulging out.
    “NO!!” Mina yelled back. “This coin brought us luck and it won’t do anything!!” she started to cry.
    The traveler sighed and patted her head. “I know what it does to people. I used to be wealthy when I got that mysterious coin but I got obsessed. Things turned out for the worse when bandits attacked me and stole everything I’ve got.” The traveler tried to stand up, “And that’s how I ended up and now I’m here filled with scars all over my body,” he told Mina.
    “I don’t believe you………..the coin is not cursed!!” Mina insisted saying.
    The traveler shook his head. “Little girl, you don’t understand what’s going on but please listen,”
    “But-But……..” she sniffed.
  They turned when they heard shouts coming from the outside.
“Please, I beg you,” Mina saw a middle aged man on his knees.
“We said NO, so leave!!” the villagers told him.
“Please, only a sip of water would help,” the man said helplessly.
“No way, we’re not going to give our precious water to you. You’re poor and dirty,” Some villagers said to him cruelly.
“We don’t even know you, so why should we help,” the villagers said coldly without any mercy for the man who was dying of thirst.
“Why—why aren’t they helping him?” Mina said as tears rolled down her face. “The villagers would usually help. Why aren’t they??”
  The traveler crouches down next to Mina. “They are like this because of the coin,”
Mina wiped her tears. “No, they aren’t. I know they aren’t like that”
“Hey. Little girl!!” the traveler called as Mina ran to the man who was thirsty.
Mina scooped a cup of water and gave it to the man. He drank it desperately under the hot humid sun. The man didn’t have much energy and his legs were shaking. He didn’t have enough strength to balance himself properly and he was dehydrated. Mina went to get another cup but was blocked by the villagers.
  “What are you doing? Why are you giving him water?! Do you know how precious water is to us?! We can’t just give it to anyone,” one of the villager said to her while another took away the cup of water she was holding.
  “Why can’t we?! We have so much water to give!!” Mina shouted while crying. “I don’t like it!! I don’t like the villagers now who don’t even help a man who is about to die!!” She sobbed. “This is my fault. I should have listened to the traveler and threw away the black coin. This isn’t being happy, I don’t want this life anymore……….”tears tickled down her face as Mina threw the black coin on the ground.
    As the wind carried Mina’s cries, the food started to rot and the water became muddy. The colorful clothes turned into dirty rags. The gold coins gradually turned from gold to black, like a poison it spreads everywhere. Everything the villagers bought or had turned black and disappeared blown away along the wind.
  “Where did everything go!!” the villagers were furious. “Where’s my money?!!” some said with desperation, searching for every pot they had with coins but they were empty. “How can we support our family now, there’s no food or water,” the villagers cried and knelt on their knees.
  ‘If you had helped the man who was dying, none of this would have happened,” the traveler told them. “You were all overwhelmed by everything you had; you got greedy and lost your kindness,”
  The villagers stared at each other and they put their head down feeling ashamed.
      “So………… kids, have you learned anything from the story?” Miss Ferro asked them all of a sudden.
      “But Miss, you haven’t even finished it yet,” Thomas said.
      “Yes, I know it very well,” Miss Ferro smiled. “The message is already given, hasn’t it? What lesson have you learnt?” she asked the students.
      Some kids raised their hands up.
      “Yes…Amy,” Miss Ferro picked.
      “We should listen to people when they warn us?” Amy said with uncertainty. 
      “Well…….that is also correct,” Miss Ferro said. “But what else is there that is the most important?”
      “We shouldn’t be tempted by money and be greedy,” Thomas said.
      Miss Ferro beamed. “Yes, that is right,” she said.
        “Living a simple life is better than having everything. You don’t need every luxurious thing in the world because that doesn’t make anyone happy. Money corrupts the soul when you have too much. If you do not like living a poor life, then work hard to achieve a life you want. Just be grateful for what you have,” Miss Ferro told the children as they nodded their heads.
        “Do you have any questions?” she asked them.
        “What happened to the villagers?” some of them questioned.
        “Well………..” Miss Ferro continued.
        After what had happened, the villagers took the time to get use to living their own life again. They apologized to the old man and thanked the traveler as the two went on their own journeys through the Silk Road. The little girl named Mina was happy to see the village back to normal and everyone agreed with her that living just the simple life is the best, even if it was hard but no one complained about it anymore again.
        “Miss Ferro! Miss………what happened to the black coin?” asked Thomas who was already jumping out of his chair.
        The other students laughed at him as Miss Ferro smiled and continued.
        The black coin that was thrown on the ground, it was buried into the depths of the sand. Occasionally, greedy travelers would try to find it but across the big massive desert, it was impossible unless a miracle happens for them. The mystical coin was never discovered again, it stayed underneath the sand everlasting and safe along the Silk Road.