The Fairy Tale Parables

Jack was beside himself with joy! Oh, how glad he was that he had climbed the vine, for here was his reward! Delicious sustenance for his famished frame, seed for sowing grain for his hungry mother and neighbors back at home, and a wonderful harp with which he could render the sweet sound of praise for his benefactor! With that, he ran to the banquet table and climbed his way up one of its legs to the top. But then he stopped. A parchment lay before him like the ones he had found previously. He picked it up and unrolled it and studied its words. “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you… Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive” (Proverbs 23:1, 3).

He took another look at the food before him and saw it suddenly as if for the first time. It was rich all right, but worms crawled all over it. “So, these things were not what the vine was bringing me to after all,” he decided. Just then, a wooden door behind the great chair burst open and a giant lumbered into the room. Jack fell down in terror.