Presents of Mine!

Once upon a time there was a grand-dad who had twins born to him as his grand-children. The twins looked quite similar when dressed up, but were in fact quite different. One of them was a girl who loved flowers and fruit, the other one was a boy who loved puppies & pets. One day, when they were about 24 months old, after they'd been playing in the garden, they both came to their grand-dad saying:

“Grand-dad, you said you'd have a present for each one of us, and also for both of us, when we got home after we had a play. We've had a play ..” then one of them added “..is that enough time playing?”


Their grand-dad looked at them and said, “Yes,

it is a very special (& scary) present for each one of you, - and for both of you together. ..

There are parts of it that are very sweet, yet there are parts that are very stingy;

very hairy and soft to touch, yet very scary and hard to touch,

there's only one, but there is still hundreds.
For 6 months, one of you can own all the black ones (with yellow stripes on them), &

one of you can own all the yellow ones (with black stripes on them), and then you’ll swap.”

The girl said “I'll start having all the yellow ones, with black stripes”, whereupon the boy said “Good, cause I'll start with all the black ones, with yellow stripes!”


The grand-father continued:

“They are animals that are helped by many plants, the plants put out little bowls of food - and desert, for them.

Yet, many plants are helped by them and couldn't make their baby plants without their help.
Can you guess what it is?”

They guessed (with a little prompting) - it was a beehive! How do you imagine each child felt when they both claimed the first bee they saw as their own?

One day after they had learned from their grand-dad how to extract honey from their hive. They together went to their grand-dad and asked if they could each have their own hive. What do you think the grand-dad might have replied?

Other story, world-view & philosophical underpinnings

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