Once upon a time, in a small village in the mountains, there lived a poor family of farmers. All they produced was barely enough to feed them and oftentimes they went to sleep hungry. The winters were harsh and the summers were short. Little elves living in the nearby forest took pity on them at last and decided to change the poor family's fortunes.
One of the elves called Gildor was chosen to be a messenger between the elves and the humans. He took a book to the family of farmers, who were all illiterate. The elf appeared in front of the eldest son, who was chopping the wood for the stove, and offered the book to the boy.
'Thank you for the gift,' replied the lad, 'but it is of no use to me. I have no time for idle reading when so much needs to be done around the house. Besides, I can't read.'
The elf, somewhat astonished at the answer, only responded 'If you say so!' and disappeared.
Gildor had a mission to fulfill and he wasn't just going to give up at the first hurdle. He decided to approach the youngest daughter thinking that perhaps a girl and the youngest one at that, would be more open to learning and would have more time to do so. The elf appeared in front of the child who was collecting nuts from an old hazelnut tree. The girl was laughing and climbing the tree energetically when Gildor stood in front of her. He extended his hand with a generous gift of a book but she only laughed in response and ignored the elf.
'Reading is boring and I have no use for a book.' She threw the words behind her as she climbed further up the tree.
Gildor was surprised again, both children rejected this amazing gift of a book as well as an opportunity to learn a new skill which is key to all learning: reading. He looked at the rejected object without understanding - it was a beautiful book!
The little elf decided to try one last time with the remaining child of the family. He appeared to the middle daughter who was tending to the cows grazing in the pasture and presented her with the book.
'I thank you little elf for this beautiful gift, but sadly I cannot read or write as there is no school in our village. Even if there were, my family could not afford to pay for it. Precious that the gift might be, it would be wasted on me,' said the girl politely with some sadness in her voice.
The elf smiled, sat down next to her and gave her the first lesson of reading in her life. Matilda, because that was the girl's name, was enchanted by the book. It had few colourful illustrations but it glowed as if the pages were made of gold. From that day on, Gildor appeared to Matilda when she was tending to the cows and spent an hour every day teaching her how to read.
Matilda was a keen student and she became fluent at reading and ready to learn more in no time. Gildor, very pleased with his avid pupil, brought her three more books to read when she was ready. The first one explained how to make flour from grain. The second one taught how to bake bread. The last one laid out how to sell goods. The girl did not yet understand why and how these skills could be useful but loved reading now and the books were so lovely, she just kept on reading.
As she kept on reading, she kept on learning. Soon, Matilda told her parents what she had learnt from the books and convinced them to try a small project. They bought grain, ground it into flour just as the book explained, baked a dozen loaves of bread and took them to the marketplace selling them at a good profit. They celebrated their achievement by having a lovely family dinner. They repeated this action every week and enjoyed better food than they could have ever afforded in the past. Hunger became a distant memory in their house.
The little friendly elf wasn't done yet helping them out, though. Gildor brought three more books to Matilda one evening.
'I thank you my friend,' replied the girl, 'you have taught me so much already. I love books and reading now, and my family is no longer starving.'
'These three books will teach you three more skills you need to change your family's fortunes for the better,' saying that the little elf disappeared leaving the books on the table.
Matilda was curious what else was there to learn from books and how her family's lot could improve further. They had all they needed now: a roof over their heads, food on the table and each other. She could not imagine any other thing worth having. The books were full of practical advice but they did not explain how these skills would turn into better fortune for her family. Nevertheless, Matilda duly read all three books and set about explaining what she had learnt to her family.
The first book taught them that rather than just baking the same amount of loaves of bread every week and spending the rest of the money, they could spend as little as possible and put the rest of the money into baking more loaves of bread every week. This would lead to more and more loaves every week which they could sell for more and more money. The book called this process - investing. This little advice swiftly led the family to earn a handsome profit. The second book helped to use that earned money, called profit, by expanding the variety of products they offered. They no longer made only bread, but started baking rolls, sweet buns, cakes and biscuits. Their fortune was growing and soon they could afford better clothes, better food and nicer things. The last book laid out how engaging their neighbours in their enterprise could benefit both the family and the neighbourhood. More and more flour was needed since they baked a lot now, so they asked the local miller to provide them with the best quality flour. Their sweet buns and cakes were sweetened with honey provided by the neighbouring beekeeper. The fruitcakes were so much tastier thanks to the local farmer supplying seasonal fruit. Even the innkeeper benefited from buying baked goods from the family as more people started eating lunches in his inn and the family no longer had to take so many products to the marketplace every week.
Matilda's family was doing so well they could hardly believe it to be true. They worked hard to achieve it, but without the books and the skill of reading all this would never have been possible. Some people in the village believed them to be charmed and saw magic behind it. Others were envious and plotted how to spoil the family's fortunes. One day a jealous neighbour distracted Matilda and when she wasn't looking added some beetroot powder to the cake trying to spoil it. The girl could not understand why the cake turned out velvety red. The neighbour was bitterly disappointed though as the cake sold for twice as much money as usual! The girl was delighted and quickly learnt how to achieve this red velvet cake. What good fortune that was!
Another time a passing by peddler stole all the money they had for the next week's products from their house. The family was very disappointed and did not know what to do but they went to their friends who supplied them with flour, milk, honey and so on, asking them to wait for the payment until the following week. Their suppliers happily agreed to help the prosperous family remembering how they helped them out by buying their goods every week. Thanks to their friends, the family quickly made up for the loss and kept on increasing their profits. In fact, they kept on making more and more money until the tragedy struck.
One fine day when they left for the marketplace in another village, a storm broke out. They took shelter from the rain and thunder in the inn of that village. When they returned home the following day, they'd learned that their house had burned down when struck by lightning. All their clothes, furniture and even the bakery were gone. They were left with what they were wearing that day and the money they made in the market. The family was very sad and not sure what to do next.
Luckily they had many neighbours who offered them shelter in their houses. The following day, most of the village got together, without the envious ones of course, and started rebuilding their burnt home. When the new house was finished, it was bigger and brighter than the old one, with a brand new large bakery on the side. How fortunate they truly were to have so many good friends!
A few years later Matilda opened the first school in the now growing town, and it was dedicated to the little elf called Gildor.
Sometimes children still report seeing the little elf at that school. They say he sneaks up between the books and hides in the library reading or dusting books. I bet if you looked for him in your school, you'd see him, too.
The end.
Moral of the story:
What the elf did for the family and the whole village was truly magical. A recipe for prosperity is working hard, having and actioning some clever ideas and above all never giving up! The family prospered and knew nothing could stop them from achieving success. Good fortune was on their side. All the children grew up and set up their own families and the village grew to be a small prosperous town.
By changing the life of just one family, Gildor transformed the lives of the whole village. The family prospered and with them the whole community, as besides making money, they made many, many friends. They gained respect for being proactive, sharing in their good fortune and staying humble. And to think it all started with the skill of reading!
