I found a story I wanted to share its called The Girl With the sliver Hands.
On one of his voyages, a sea captain loses a treasure chest. The Evil One, seeing an opportunity to capture a soul, makes a deal with the captain. He offers to restore the captain's treasure if in exchange, the Captain will give him the first thing he sees when he walks up the path to his home. The Captain hardly hesitates. In his mind's eye, he sees only the apple tree by the gate. And an apple is a small price to pledge for the return of his treasure. For the rest of the voyage, it's fair wind and full sails. Laden with treasure, the captain forgets his promise.
On his return, as he walks the road to his house, his beautiful daughter-the "apple of his eye "-rushes to him with outstretched arms. She, and not the tree, is the first thing he sees. Through his greed-or limited vision- he has inadvertently betrayed his daughter.
The Captain, with tears in his eyes, and an aching heart, greets his daughter, but keeps his pledge to the devil a secret. That night, she discovers her father's secret. At first she is horrified, and then her horror turns to resignation, and then to anger. To spite the devil and punish her father for his foolish vow, she cuts off her hands and sends them in a box to the Evil One.
The girl runs away from home-fleeing from the father and all that he represents-and is guided by angels to a beautiful garden, where she lives. Without hands, she has no way to feed herself But the angels stay by her, whispering that she must stand on her toes to eat the berries and fruits that hang abundantly above her head.
Our heroine lives in her garden undisturbed until one day a King discovers the garden and falls in love with her. His royal silversmiths fashion beautiful hands for her. Soon she becomes pregnant but before she can tell him the news, he leaves her to go fight a war in a foreign country
Mean while, the Evil One is enraged at being cheated out of his prize. With the king gone, the Evil One enters into an alliance with the Queen Mother and, through the agency of vicious rumors which she starts to spread, manages to turn the kingdom against the girl with the silver hands. This time she is forced to flee, and in the wilderness, she gives birth to her child, whom she names Sorrowful.
Weak with thirst, she discovers an abandoned well-a deep source of spiritual nourishment and life. A mysterious and powerful voice speaks deep from within the well, telling her to put her hands in the water. She protests.
"I have no hands, "she says.
Again the voice urges, 'Put your hands in the water."
This time she does-and the magic happens. She feels a tremendous release from her sorrow and pain. and when she withdraws her hands from the water, she discovers they are whole and real again.<p>Putting our hands in the water is another way of saying we must get in touch with our own deep feelings and move through them. We need to accept the sorrow, release the rage, shed the tears, and then reclaim our power. And we must do it alone. Though we can be helped along the way, no one ultimately can do it for us.
The sorrow ends and living begins when we begin to trust that deep inner voice that speaks from our own depths, and urges us to move on with our lives.
There is never a hurt that can’t be overcome. And there is never a hurt, beyond the first moment, that is not self-inflicted. Hurts are real, and they can be engendered by other people—but they can only be sustained by us.
<p> with love, flowerseed<p>[ February 14, 2002: Message edited by: flowerseed ]</p>
