The Last Day of Classes

On their last day of classes, our students have a special schedule where they see all of their teachers for 15-minute mini-classes. Mostly, they sign yearbooks and said goodbye, but I couldn’t resist a last opportunity to teach them something, so I told them the following story. It’s a version of “The Turnip,” as retold by the Brothers Grimm.

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One was a soldier who had risen through the ranks and became rich and well-known, and the other was a farmer who remained poor and unknown. One year, the farmer-brother planted turnip seeds, and when the plants came up, he noticed that one was much bigger than the others. It grew and grew, and when harvest time came, he found that the turnip was so big that it filled an entire cart and required two oxen to pull it.

“What will I do with this turnip?” thought the farmer. “Will it bring me good fortune or bad? I cannot sell it, for who would want such a thing? I shouldn’t eat it, for little turnips would be just as good and easier to cook.” After much thought, the farmer decided there was nothing to do with the giant turnip but bring it to the king as a present.

When the king saw the turnip he said, “I’ve seen a great many wondrous things in my time, but I’ve never seen anything quite so wondrous as this turnip. Tell me, how did you come by this turnip? You must be a great man.”

The farmer said, “No, it is my brother who is a great man. He is a rich and well-known soldier whom you’ve heard of. I am just a poor and simple farmer. No one’s heard of me.”

The king felt compassion for the farmer and said, “I will raise you from poverty. You will have gold, and land, and herds of cattle, and your brother’s riches will be not match for yours.” And so it happened that the farmer became richer and more well-known than his brother.

Now, when the soldier-brother heard of what had happened to his farmer-brother, he became envious. He said, “If that could happen to my brother because of a simple turnip, imagine what the king will give me if I bring him the wonderful treasures from the faraway lands I’ve visited in my travels.” So, the soldier-brother loaded a cart with treasures from around the world and went to visit the king.

When the king was presented with the treasure, he said, “What wonders you have brought me! I would like to give you something wonderful in return. And in all my kingdom, I have nothing so wonderful as this magnificent turnip!” And so it happened that the soldier had no choice but to load the turnip onto his cart and take it home.

As the soldier-brother was on his way home, his rage turned to hatred, so that by the time he reached home, he had resolved to kill his brother. He hired some murderers and had them hide by the side of the road. The soldier went to his brother’s house and said, “I know of a great treasure buried near here. Now that we are both great men, let us go together to dig up the treasure, and we’ll divide it between us and become even richer.” The farmer-brother, suspecting nothing, went along. And the murderers fell upon him, threw him in a sack, tied the sack, and prepared a rope to hang him from a tree.

But suddenly, in the distance, they heard singing and hoof beats. Afraid they would get caught, the murderers simply tied the sack up in the tree and ran away. As it turned out, the singing and hoof beats came from a student who was riding his horse back to the university and singing joyously of all the things he was learning.

Meanwhile, the farmer worked a hole into the sack and poked his head out. When the student came riding by, the farmer called, “Hello! Today is your lucky day!”

“Who’s there?” called the student, looking left and right.

“Look up in the tree! Here I am, sitting in the Sack of Wisdom! Why, in the short time I’ve been in this sack, I’ve learned a great many things about the world.”

When the student heard this, he said, “Please, you must let me enter this sack. I too desire to learn a great many things.”

The farmer said, “Well, you’ll have to wait a little while. There is still one more thing I need to learn.”

After a short while, the student couldn’t bear his thirst for knowledge and called again, “Please! You must let me enter the Sack of Wisdom!”

So the farmer said, “If you want to enter the sack of wisdom, you must use that rope to lower it down.” Eagerly, the student lowered the sack, let the farmer out, and began to climb in. “Oh, no,” said the farmer. “You must let the wisdom surround you. You must go headfirst into the sack.” So the student dove into the sack, and the farmer tied it up, hoisted it into the tree, and rode off on the student’s horse.

When I finished telling the story, I said to my students, “So, why did I tell you this strange story on the last day of school? Because I want you to be a little bit like each character and little bit unlike each character. I hope that, like the solider, you will have great things come to you. And I hope that, unlike the soldier, you will never think that just because you have some privileges, you are automatically entitled to others. I hope that, like the like the student, you will always seek new knowledge and take great joy in learning. And I hope that, unlike the student, you never expect learning to come easily. I hope that, like the famer, you will take all new situations—whether good, bad, or ambiguous—and find creative ways to make them good. And I hope that, unlike the farmer, you will never deceive or exploit another person for your own gain.”

What do you think? Too didactic? Or a good lesson for the last day of school?