The Heaviest Gift

In an ancient forest, on a sunlit clearing, stood an Old Oak. It was no ordinary oak — at its roots the animals would leave their thanks to the Creator of the Forest for having survived the winter, for the warm sun, and for the tasty berries.

Once a year, when the leaves turned golden, the animals gathered for the Festival of Gifts.

The Bear came out first. He was enormous, well-fed, and self-important. His fur gleamed. He rolled a huge trough to the roots of the Oak, full of fragrant linden honey. "Look!" the Bear roared. "I worked hard all summer! I've brought a whole barrel! No one can give more than this!" The animals gasped: "What a generous Bear! What a magnificent gift!" But the Bear knew that he had fifty more barrels just like it left in his den. He had given away what he didn't need, out of his surplus, and he was very proud of how everyone praised him.

Second came the Squirrel Cub, bounding forward. He dragged along a huge net woven from grass, full of the finest forest nuts. "Me too! Me too!" he chattered. "Look how big they are! The very best!" The animals clapped their paws. The Squirrel Cub bowed in every direction, quite pleased with himself. But back home, in his hollow, he had stores enough for three winters ahead. He had given a great deal — but he had sacrificed nothing.

And then a little gray Mouse stepped onto the clearing. She was old, and her little paws trembled. No one even noticed her. Everyone was busy talking about the honey and the nuts. The Mouse lived in great poverty. All summer there had been a drought, and she had barely managed to find just two small grains of wheat. That was her breakfast and her supper. She had nothing else. Nothing at all.

The Mouse stood in the shade of a burdock leaf. She felt ashamed. "Lord," she whispered, "the Bear has honey, the Squirrel Cub has nuts... and I have only this. I'm so ashamed to bring You something so small. But I love You so much, and I'm so grateful to live in Your forest."

And then she grew afraid. "If I give away my grains, what will I eat tomorrow? I'll starve..." This was a moment of choice. The Bear had not feared hunger; the Squirrel had not feared it either. But the Mouse was afraid. Yet then she sighed and thought: "The Creator of the Forest has cared for me my whole life. He fed me yesterday — surely He won't forget me tomorrow? I will give Him everything, and He Himself will decide how I am to live."

Quietly, she approached the roots, laid her two grains beside the enormous barrel of honey, and scurried away quickly, so that no one would laugh at her poverty.

And then the Wise Owl spoke. He sat upon a branch and saw what others could not see. He saw not only the animals' paws, but their hearts as well. "Wait!" the Owl hooted. "We must decide whose gift is greatest." "Mine, of course!" the Bear growled. "My barrel weighs more than a mouse!" "No," said the Owl. "Let us place the gifts upon the Heavenly Scales."

The Owl explained the great secret to the animals: "The Heavenly Scales don't work the way ordinary scales do. On one side is placed what you gave away. And on the other — what you kept for yourself."

They placed the Bear's gift on the scales. On one side — the barrel. On the other — the fifty barrels still left at home. The side with his remaining stores outweighed it. The gift flew upward, light as a feather. It turned out to weigh almost nothing at all.

They placed the Squirrel Cub's gift. The same story. His full pantry outweighed his gift.

And then they placed the Mouse's two grains. On one side of the scales lay the two grains. And on the other side... nothing at all. The animals were astonished. "She has nothing left?" the Bear asked. "Nothing," the Owl answered. "She gave away more than grain. She gave away her life. She gave up her hope of food, and entrusted her life to the Creator."

And suddenly the side with the two grains began to sink downward. It grew heavier and heavier, until it outweighed both the barrel of honey and the mountain of nuts. Two grains, filled with complete trust and love, turned out to weigh more than all the gold in the forest.

The forest fell silent. The Bear lowered his eyes. He understood that he had given away mere crumbs from his table, while the Mouse had given away her whole heart.

And the Mouse? At that moment she sat in her burrow, hungry, but her soul was strangely calm and warm. And when she came out the next morning, she found that right at the entrance to her burrow, the wind had swept together a whole little pile of fresh grain, which had fallen from a passing cart.