Authors: John Mellor
Tags: #mystery, #religious, #allegory, #christian, #magical realism, #fable, #fairytale, #parable
The Seven Gifts
He that overcometh shall
inherit all things
and I will be his God, and
he shall be my son
The Seven Gifts
- that came to
Earth
John Mellor
“One of those unique &
wonderful manuscripts
that come one’s way all too
rarely”
- London
publisher
©
2010
:
JohnMellor
@
7-books.net
Smashwords
Edition
Cover Art by
Sarah-Jane Lehoux
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Reviews
“Brilliant, wise and funny book . . .
lingers in your head like a
piece of music
”
“A highly unusual book . . . walks that
fine line between profound
and insane
”
“everyone will take something from this
novel
that will stay with them for
a long time
”
“the most enjoyable book I have read in a
long time
.. something of importance I
hope will touch everyone
”
“Some things linger in mind long after you
read it.
it is really a wonderful, unique book”
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Story
This story is for my
friend Michèle,
who talked to me about
such things
And for my
children
who I hope will do the
same
A young boy must undertake a rite of
passage, the like of which we cannot begin to imagine. The time has
come for seven precious gifts, bestowed on the Earth by its
guardian, to be revealed. The boy is charged by an Angel to find
and understand them. He must read seven books, whose stories hide
the gifts.
The mysterious books defy our earthly sense
of normal, and challenge even this boy's perceived reality as he
seeks to unveil the secrets of the seven gifts; and the enigma of
the Angel; and the reason for himself.
When the books close, the gifts will no
longer be hidden,
the Angel no longer veiled; and the boy no
longer a boy.
And we no longer who we were.
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~ The Seven Gifts
~
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~ The Angel ~
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The Angel’s
Story
‘Little children, keep
yourselves from idols’
IT WAS a simple story that the Angel told;
and it was couched for these times, in which we read it.
She took her theme from St Paul: ‘When I was
a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as
a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things'. Then
she wove those words around a little girl to whom everything was
still possible and all things had meaning.
With such convictions, it was natural for
the little girl to assume that life was straightforward and just as
it seemed. It was plain, for instance, that the sun went down in
the evening so that everyone could sleep, and rose again in the
morning to wake them up. The fairies that she could see at the
bottom of her garden were clearly there, even though no adults
seemed able to see them.
It was quite obvious to the little girl -
long before it became so to the scientists - that if she could
imagine something then it must exist. Thus her world was full of
wonder and magic; peopled by daring and handsome Princes who
rescued damsels in distress, saved woodcutters and milkmaids from
tyranny, and rode fine white chargers across the land, their
goodness proudly emblazoned across their hearts.
Good fought with Evil all through the early
years of her life, and Good always triumphed. And so life for a
little girl was simple, and she had no difficulty in understanding
what St Matthew had really meant when he said: ‘Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven.'
But her elders had no more idea of the real
truth behind those words than they had of the theme that St. Paul
has threaded through this story. They translated his words
according to the dictionary; then smiled at the smug illusion of
their maturity. Life was considerably more complex than any little
girl could imagine, what with stock exchanges and mortgages,
pension funds and life assurance, technology, social mores and atom
bombs.
St Paul was right. And it was the bounden
duty of adults to make little girls grow up and face the true facts
of modern, civilised life. And that, undaunted by dreams, was what
they did.
So the little girl was coerced out of
childhood; and she carefully put away all her childish things,
according to the example set her.
She laid aside her childish charm and
wonder, and drew on the mantle of acquisitive adulthood. She
replaced her trust and simple honesty with a grown-up worldliness,
and the sophisticated pragmatism that comes with maturity. And she
came to view the world with the sad eye of the realist: a bleak and
practical world with no magic.
And with her dreams died also her beliefs.
For who could prove that Jesus lived? Or Matthew wrote? Their
storybook, whose parables and pictures had inspired so many of her
dreams, was discarded in favour of more realistic and socially
orientated writings: the intellectual and literary fashions of her
day.
The little girl settled herself - as she had
been taught - to the rewards and responsibilities of citizenship.
And she grew into a modern young woman, aware of and sensitive to
her own important needs and desires; and knowing her rightful niche
in the community.
Her life, which had once been so open and
inquisitive, shrank into a solid, firmly structured matrix, built
entirely around the need for material comfort. In this respect she
was a fortunate young woman, for she lived in a time when there was
no work for the majority, and consequently generous social benefits
to compensate. She had a nice home and car, regular holidays
abroad, sufficient money for her comfort and needs, and the time to
pursue her own important desires. Any struggle would have to be of
her own making.
But she made nothing. In the company of her
peers, she sank slowly and steadily, and quite willingly, into the
seductive quicksands of mature adulthood. And as those sands
dragged her remorselessly ever downward so, beneath the seeming
indifferent gaze of the Angel, her spirit gradually died over the
years, until finally only her body remained: a firm, lithe, sensual
body, moulded to the mood of the time. She was bright, vivacious
and socially aware: a most attractive young woman devoid of all
childish things, and all childish dreams.
It was a sad story; and there were few that
realised. For it was a story of the time, and they were all in that
time.
Had they been in another time they might
have understood the dangers of this one. She herself might even
have understood. For every time has its own individual qualities;
its own spiritual tide against which it is folly to fight. Though
the rewards can be great.
But the young girl did not fight. Her elders
had drawn a veil over her mind and left her only eyes with which to
see. So she never saw her adversary. And she died without ever
knowing there was one.
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All this the Angel knew
well
As did the girl; for she had
chosen it
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THE ANGEL finished her story and then walked
with the boy in silence, towards a tall, thin building that stood
alone at the far end of the sands. Lights twinkled from the high,
narrow windows, and they could see tiny dots of people entering and
leaving by the small door at its base.
The boy broke the silence. “A pity she had
to grow up," he said. “But it was a funny time to choose to live,
wasn't it, with all those problems?"
The Angel smiled. “No," she answered. “It
was a rather interesting time in fact. It was the beginning of an
important change in the lives of all the people on Earth - the time
when the seven gifts of its guardian were to be unveiled."
The boy looked at her quizzically.
The Angel explained: “When the Earth was
created its guardian endowed it with seven special gifts. But the
awareness of these gifts was to remain dormant until the time came
when the people of Earth had grown sufficiently to understand them.
The little girl's life was the beginning of that time.
“She wanted to experience the early stages
of the change - the distant sense of a new age of consciousness
gradually, almost imperceptibly spreading its tentacles throughout
the dying spasms of the old. In this story, she was freed from the
need to work but had lost her child's simple understanding of how
to replace it. When the gifts are finally revealed, all the people
will `become as little children’, and regain that
understanding.
“She knew nothing of the seven gifts; only
that it was a time of important and far-reaching change. You will
be living on the Earth shortly after her, but before you go you
must learn the secrets of these seven gifts."
The boy was surprised. “But why?" he asked.
“I don't think I want to know all that. How can I live a normal
life if I learn all that before I go? Nobody else has to. Why do
I?"
The Angel turned her face away from his
enquiring gaze, towards the darkening sea. A flicker of sadness
showed briefly in her eyes. Only when it had gone did she turn back
to him.
“We all have things we must do," she
explained gently, “and this is something you must do."
“But ..."
“Don't argue!" the Angel interrupted him
brusquely. But then her tone softened and she went on: “You will
find out why soon enough. Now I am going to show you seven books,
each of which contains a story illustrating one of the gifts. You
must read these stories carefully, then come to me after each one
to show me that you fully comprehend the significance of the gift.
When you have read all seven, you should understand the purpose of
the guardian's seven gifts, and the reason for them being unveiled
at this time. Then you will know why you have to do this.
“I cannot tell you what the gifts are. It is
important that you find them for yourself."
They entered the building with the high,
narrow windows, stood alone at the end of the sands, and began to
climb the stairs. The Angel took the boy to a small room right at
the top of the building which contained a chair, a table and a
single shelf. On the shelf were seven books. She showed him the
books and then left.
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