The Lonely Ones

This post  was in response to a prompt from Lemuria, For the Lonely Ones:  When Farmer Wurzel first stood Mr. Tatters in the middle of the Big Field the scare-crow thought how happy he was going to be.  But he was not happy. As the days passed he did not see anyone to whom he could say “Good day, I hope you are well.” And nobody came to say “and I hope you are well” to him.  Poor Mr. Tatters grew a little lonely.

He would watch other creatures scurrying around him in the distance throughout all hours of the day.  Cows grazed in a pasture in the distance.  Large oak trees that surrounded the perimeter were filled with birds and squirrels.  He longed to call out to them, “Hello there!” but they were too far away from him to hear anything.

Mr. Tatters stood in the middle of that field all day long, every single day.  Through scorching heat, drenching rain or strong winds, he remained in that field.  That was his place and that is where he needed to stay.  But he didn’t want to stay.  He would have liked to join the farm animals in the warm barn at night, or huddle under the protection of the large oak trees in the rain with the squirrels to keep himself dry.  Mr. Tatters became very sad.

One day, a carefree little bunny was hopping through the field and ran right into Mr. Tatters.  It looked up at him with big frightened eyes.  “Well good day, little bunny.  I hope you are doing well today!”  The bunny relaxed a little bit, and cocked its head to the side a little bit.  “Um, h-h-h-hi,” the bunny said a bit reluctantly.  Mr. Tatters perked up and told the bunny what a pleasant treat it was for him to have a visitor and asked the bunny where his place on the farm was.  “I live right over there,” the bunny said, nodding over toward a grassy area near the barn.  “Why does everyone stay away from me?” Mr. Tatters asked discouragingly.  “Well you ARE a scarecrow!  It’s your job to scare things away, silly!”  Mr. Tatters hung his head down, “Oh,” he said sadly.  “I see.” 

Mr. Tatters never wanted to scare anyone.  He loved the company of others and wanted nothing other than to share his friendship.  He didn’t understand why he had to stay in the middle of that field during all conditions, alone and doing something that wasn’t in his nature; scaring things away. 

The bunny hopped back the next day and told Mr. Tatters that someone was going to come see him today, someone that could help him make sense of everything.  A little while later, a wise owl flew near Mr. Tatters and landed on his shoulder.  “Good day, Mr. Tatters,” the owl said in his distinguished tone.  “Well hello there!” Mr. Tatters replied.  “I have come to tell you about your responsibility to this farm.” The owl said.   “My responsibility?” Mr. Tatters said, a bit confused.  “You see, these fields here grow the crops that help keep this farm running.  This field contains important foods that not only will feed the farmer and his family, but food that they will sell down at the market.  The money they make from these crops allow them to buy feed and supplies for the livestock.  Without food for the cows, the cows would not be healthy enough to contribute milk, which also keeps this farm running.  All the animals that live here are able to do so because of the precious cycle that nourishes everything around us.  And that cycle always comes back to this field.”  Mr. Tatters looked at Mr. Owl with an astonished look on his face.  “You see those crows just beyond the fence line over there?” Mr. Owl continued.  Mr. Tatters looked over at the flock of black birds that stayed just beyond the perimeter.  “Yes,” he replied.  “Well, those crows love these crops and will do their best to try to make it their personal buffet.  They have destroyed countless numbers of crops, and you are the only one that can keep them away!”  “Really!?” Mr. Tatters exclaimed with a gleam in his eye.  “Yes, you have a very important part in the success of this farm!”  “But if I only need to scare the crows, why does everyone else also stay away?”  “You see, if they are out here running around, they will disrupt the soil that nourishes the crops, so they must stay off the fields as well.”  “Oh, I understand now.” Mr. Tatters replied. 

From that day on, Mr. Tatters stood tall and proud as he did his job of protecting the crops.  The other animals were sure to holler over at him every once in a while, and the owl and other small birds flew over to visit every so often.  He understood that regardless of our view on life, when it is bringing us down, sometime we just need a change in perspective to understand how important our place in it is.