Jimmy MacJimJim and the magic seeds
In a far away land, there was a giant tree. A huge, giant, beautiful ancient tree, with many branches. A tree of great power, whose power was closely guarded by its guardians, a race of giants.
Jimmy MacJimJim had heard of this tree, and yearned for its great power. But he came to the tree and was told that in order to reap the power of the tree he had to become a guardian of the tree, as only the guardians of the tree could be trusted with its power. But becoming a guardian was a long, and arduous task, involving great sacrifice. Jimmy didn’t like the sound of that.
But then he heard about a hermit who lived in a small cabin. People said he was crazy, but that he knew of the secret of the great tree. Jimmy approached the hermit, and begged the old man to tell him of the secret. The hermit, with a twinkle in his one-good eye, told him all he knew. Jimmy came away with a plan.
He went to the guardians of the tree, and offered to help them out for a while. While he tended the tree, he took one of its seeds, some fertiliser that the guardians had left around, and in the middle of the night, went back home.
He planted the tree in his garden. It grew well with the rich fertiliser. And one day, it started sprouting berries. And he ate them. But the berries had sour seeds, which didn’t please Jimmy, so he spat that part of the berry out. As he ate the flesh of the berries he became taller, just like the guardians of the tree. This pleased Jimmy. He had figured out the secret of the guardians and the tree! Each year, the tree blossomed new berries, and he ate every one. And Jimmy grew taller and taller. But as he grew taller, Jimmy also grew fatter. And fatter. He didn’t really notice, as he was so happy about getting taller, and he had always been a bit on the tubby side anyway. And so after many harvests, Jimmy had grown taller and taller. He was now even taller than many of the guardians. But he had become obese.
By this time the news had spread, and the guardians came to see. They looked on aghast. They were horrified! The guardians, while tall, were slim. They went away, shocked by what they had seen. Jimmy didn’t mind, he was tall, so tall! He had everything he had always wanted.
Others came to see. Some of those looked away in horror, just like the guardians. Others were amazed by the size of Jimmy, and asked if they could join him. Some of them were so entranced by how tall Jimmy was they didn't notice the obesity, and some of them just didn't care about getting fat. They just wanted to get tall. By this point Jimmy was so large that he couldn’t get through the doors of his house anymore, and had become rather lonely, so he encouraged people to join him in his garden. They too grew tall and obese eating the berries, though none of them could ever become quite as tall and obese as Jimmy.
Olaf had also heard news of the giant obese Jimmy. He came to watch from the outer gardens, fascinated yet repelled as to what he was witnessing. He tried asking them if they had noticed how obese everyone was, and whether there were other ways of growing tall without getting fat. But they didn't listen, as all everyone in the garden wanted to do was discuss how sweet the berries were and how tall they had become. Eventually they grew tired of the questioning, and said to Olaf, either you eat the berries and become fat and tall like us, or get out of the garden. Olaf didn't want to become fat, so he was cast out.
One day walking home, Olaf was drinking in a tavern. On the table next to him were some guardians (the tavern had a very large ceiling). His ears perked up, as he realised they were talking about Jimmy and the secrets of the giant tree of the far away land:
“If only Jimmy had stayed with us long enough to realise you have to eat the seeds as well!”