A Jewish tale.

Tomorrow is A.K. my Tai chi instructors birthday so after class a few of us went for breakfast. Shelley, a Bulgarian Jew, who reminds me of an eccentric Italian mama, told us a story on why man lives for so long. Imagine it being told in a heavy Bulgarian accent to appreciate the full effect.

When God was creating the earth, He gave every animal a lifespan of twenty years and that included man. When mans twenty years were almost up he went to God and begged for a longer life. He had loved his life so much that he wanted to live for more than his allotted years. God shook His head and told man that it wouldn’t be fair to all the other animals if He made an exception for man. This made man very sad.

A few days later horse went to God and asked if He could make his life shorter. All he did was work and twenty years was too long to pull a plough and the cart. Please could he live for ten years and donate the other ten to man. God said He’d think it over.

Later donkey came to God and asked if his life could be made shorter by eight years and if he could donate the rest to man. Donkey was tired of carrying goods from place to place and he couldn’t bear to work so hard for another eight years.

Pig also saw God and asked for his life to be reduced, all he did was eat and he was bored, but God could give his remaining years to man. Rabbit asked the same thing, he was scared of the world, there were too many problems, and once again, he offered man his excess years.

A few more animals did the same and after God had added all the years’ together, man would get to live to 120 years old. God decided to grant them their wish. That is how man learned to live his first twenty years, with no cares and happiness. His next one hundred years; he worked hard like a horse, carried many burdens like the donkey, ate like a pig and was scared of life like the rabbit.

I loved the story even though it’s cynical like most Jewish tales.