Early in the morning he awakes to tthe sound of birds fluttering their
wings outside his window. After stretching he goes to his
wash chambers to prepare himself for the day's activities.
He eats eggs, bacon, and grits for breakfast and awaits the king's arrival. While waiting for the king his lovve pixie stops by to tell him how much
she loves him. Telling her he loves her too she gives him
a kiss and tells him she'll return in the evening.
Moments later he hears at the doorr someone banging harshly for it to
open. As he opens the door he sees the king angrily
staring at him. The king says to him "Merlin! I need your help right now,
and there's no time to waste!" "What's wrong your majesty?" Merlin replies. So the king tells hhim he must come down to the meeting
room, because he must talk with everyone about this. Merlin promptly tells the
king he will be down directly.
Inside the meeting room Merlin sitts down at the huge table as others
come to join him. Finally the king enters with a grim
look on his face. Sitting down at the head of the table he calls the meeting to ordeer. Everyone waits eagerly for the
king to tell them why they are there. Speaking to everyone the king decrees
"we must do something about the poor people for
they are increasing in number everyday."
Sage Sullivan stands up and suggestts to the king "we could have the
poor people feed the horses and shine the armor for
the knights in return for food." The king looks him dead in the eye and says ";we already have people to feed the
horses and knights can shine their own armor. Anybody else
have an idea that might be a good one?" Slowly Thomas stands up and suggests to thhe king "why don't we get the
poor people to work in their local community. I mean, give
them a job and they won't be poor anymore." "If there were any
jobs available we wouldn't have this problem you idiot!" the king responds in irritation.
As the king sits down Merlin rises up and says to him "Sire, you
know about that large piece of land you have in the Recita
area of your kingdom?" "Yes Merlin I do." The king replies.
Continuing Merlin says "I have seen this land and found it to be very
fertile." Confused the king says "okay, but what does this have to do
with the poor people?" So Merlin says
"I was thinking that if you turn it into a garden you could use the poor people to tend to it and keep it going. They
would water the crops throughout the year
and come time for harvest they would be able to gather up a year's supply of
food."
"That sounds like a good idea,, but were would we get all these
crops?" the king asks. So Merlin tells him "we could try the local
churches for donations and yes it will take some time.
At first the garden will be a very small one, but through the years as it grows it will come to feed all thee poor people." Speaking bluntly
the king asks "that sounds like a splendid idea, but how will it help the
poor people right now?" Merlin replies
"it won't help them right now, but if they are willing to keep it going it
will come to a glorious time. For
now I fear there really isn't much we can do."
The king says "I see your poinnt and think we should go along with
your idea so we can reduce the number of poor people in
the future but for now I fear we must leave them to begging. Can anybody else
come up with a better idea?" With no responses the king ends the meeting and sends eveeryone about their daily business.
Chapter 2
The king gives the task of startingg the garden to Merlin. Merlin, eager
to get started, goes to the local churches to see
about getting crops to use in the garden. Fortune smiles upon him and he
receives many crops. The church delivers the crops to the Recita area. Merlin leaves them there and head back to town to see about
getting crops from other churches as well.
Towards the end of the day Merlin ccollected an enormous amount of crops
and goes home to sleep. In the morning he gathers up poor
people from town and takes them to the Recita lands so they can plant all the
crops Merlin has gathered. Taking food from the kitchens of
the castle Merlin feeds the poor people as they work in the fields. Happy to have at least one meal a day, tthey plant the crops in no time at
all.
Three weeks later with the crops ffinally planted, Merlin tells the poor
people about the idea he had. Some turn their
heads because they want food now, not a year from now.
Others, knowing they might get food as they work, keep their attention. Unable to feed the poor people thrree meals a day, Merlin finds he is
still able to feed them one meal a day. Unhappy and
hungry, some of the poor return to town and go back to begging, but enough of them stayy in the Recita lands.
As time goes by the crops begin too grow and the poor people get more
and more excited for harvest to come. They keep
watering the crops and make sure the soil is clean. They spend most of their day workiing and spend their nights dreaming of
better things to come. While working in the fields the poor
people begin to talk with one another and friendships are quickly made. Thomas,
a young man with his own family but no job, becomes friends
with Hubert.
Hubert starts to banter with Thomass and asks him how his day is going.
Thomas tells him the days are tough but he thinks
things will pick up, even if he has to wait a year.
Thomas tells Hubert he thinks this might be the only way to feed and Hubert
agrees with him. Hubert tells Thomas that one meal a day is still better than
nothing. As the days go by Hubert and Thomas find
themselves working together, eating together, and bantering with each other to help rrelive their boredom.
Other poor people begin talking too each other and soon many friendships
are made. Now with friends and eating everyday they feel that
they are doing well. Maybe not the life of luxury everyone dreams
about, but well enough to keep on living. Harvest is now only a month away so many ppoor people are excited and ready to
go. Still feeding them from the kitchens, Merlin himself is
getting more and more eager for harvest time to arrive.
A month later not all the crops arre ready, but most of them are. Merlin
tells the poor people to bring the harvested crops to a piece of land that
wasn't currently in use. Merlin then gets one of the poor
people to find out exactly how much there actually was. He then gives an equal amount of thhe crops to each one of the poor
people. With this abundant harvest, each one of the poor
people receives enough food to last them for a whole
year.
Chapter 3
Hubert, who is unsure what to do wiith his food, having no home, asks
Merlin if he would allow him to stay in the fields.
Smiling, Merlin tells Hubert he'd be happy to allow it.
With such a good response Hubert asks Merlin if his friend, Thomas, may do the same. Merlin tells him yes. Then hhe goes to all the poor people and
tells them they may stay in the fields as long as they keep working. Many of
the poor people haven't a home of their own and take Merlin up on
his offer.
Merlin, happy to see his idea actuaally working, was almost giddy with
joy. The king was not only surprised, but excited as well. Telling Merlin what
a good job he did the king asks if he would be able to keep the crops growing
year after year, or was this just a one time thing? Merlin
responds to the king by telling him that the fields would be planted again in a few months, and yes, this was something that would
keep on going.
For the poor people, the huge gardden was a glorious place. Known as the
Recita lands to most of the people, it was known to the poor people as The
Garden Of Charity. Through the years the poor people
would sometimes sell a small part of their crops to the town folk for money. They would usee this money to get gifts, clothes,
and shoes for their loved ones. The town folk always
thought they were making a great deal. They got lots of crops for a tiny bit of money.
Shortly after, all the town folk soold The Garden's crops for more than
their own crops. While eating a delicious baked
potato the king asks the cook where it came from, only to find out it came from the RRecita lands. Outraged to find out his
poor people were not only being fed, but were making money
from it, the king demanded that they all be taxed. The poor
people didn't get a lot of money, but any money that's not being taxed is too much in the eyes of the king.
The very next month the king startts to tax the poor people. With so
many of them, nearly 100,000 by now, the king
compassionately charges them only a penny per year. His once useless area, the
Recita lands was now bringing him almost $1,000 a year. In remembrance of the ones who startedd it all, the king placed a plaque
with Merlin's name as founder. As for the title, they called the lands The
Garden Of Charity. With the Recita lands still
helping the poor people, The Garden Of Charity will live on forever and ever.