Kane The Foolish Man

A Story by TheThaumaturge

When a man tells of his desires, rumors are spread, and he becomes the accused.

Kane was a farmer who worked in the fields of Slavic in the time of the dark ages. A very specific place and time - but not a topic that was precise for its time; for this matter concerns every time, though it may be rare.

Once Kane had an image in his mind of a place he could be in much neater than his own home. He lived in a shack that was worn down and broken, with moss and foliage growing all around it. It provided him a place to live and reside, but in the rain, it was cold and wet, and in the summer it was hot and dry.

In the village nearby by the name of Edim, was where Kane came to sell and deal with his produce for the season. He grew broccoli and cabbage in the fall and pumpkins and tomatoes in the summer. He was a good grower, but he could never make enough money than to barely support himself due to the lack of a bigger field. Kane was also a well-known man, who, despite his poverty, had a great many friends and acquaintances that liked him. Money and riches were not needed for the true grains that the soul of the world provides.

One day, he was talking to his friend Slao. He told him how he would love to have a house like the wealthier people in the area: filled with luscious gardens and walls made of stone painted over with bright colors. The walkways paved with gravel and bigger stones that made for a beautiful entrance. He wished he could have money to plant flowers in a garden in front of his house and be able to sleep in a softer bed than the hard and rough surface of the one he had at the moment; these being all the things Kane desired.

But Kane knew they would not come to pass - for he was too old and weak to do much more than he has already done - and without children, he was left to his work alone. And although he wished for more, he was satisfied and content for the time.

But a terrible and mischievous act came to pass in the coming weeks. Kane’s friend Sloan went from store to store, house to house, and field to field, telling the whole village about how selfish and greedy Kane was: He told them that he lusted and envied those who had the money to buy nice homes and fields, how he was wrought with anger due to such. The village came to believe Sloan's words, for he was a trusted friend of Kane.

When Kane came back to town sell his crops from the previous season, he was meant with an awful surprise. No one in town would come to buy his crops, and everyone was obviously avoiding him and his stall. Every now and then, a man or woman would walk by and say “Selfish fool!” or “Envy like the vines of the trees!”. He was quite confused about such remarks and so he got up from his stall and went to a man walking nearby and asked him what all the commotion was about. “Well, we’ve heard about the truth in your heart. You want to have a rich home and steal ours from us - you are filled with anger because of the hard work we put into our craftsmanship. I will not stand near a man of such vulgarity in his heart!”, and with that, the man left him: confused and misunderstood.

It was true that he wanted a nice house and so, but he was not like what they said him to be. Actions speak louder than words - and he was able to control his mortal desires and quench the evil inside him.

But a rumor had been spread, and now he was answering to a statement which he never said, and being hurt in his heart by those that surrounded him. Such is the tale, of a fool named Kane.