This magical tale teaches kids (and parents) the importance of not holding onto hurtful words, embracing inner growth, and transforming challenges into strengths. A must-read for anyone seeking to inspire resilience and foster emotional growth in their children.
Once upon a time, there was a brave boy who loved all types of snakes, pythons, lizards, and what not. While others were afraid, he was enamored. He often preferred the company of pythons to people.
One day, he had a particularly hard day. His older sister was playing with her new dollhouse, carefully arranging tiny furniture. “Can I play too? I’ll be super careful,” he asked hopefully. She looked at him with disgust. “You’re too clumsy to play with my things. You’ll just break everything like you always do. Go play with your gross snakes!” The words felt like sharp stones hitting his chest. Tears welling up in his eyes, he ran outside to his happy place.
You see, he had a magical power within him that could transform an ordinary backyard into rainforests and swamps. His pool would become a marsh filled with crocodiles and frogs. The palm trees would become lush rainforests whistling with the collective sounds of birds and rare species one could only imagine. As he walked around a huge bush, he heard something rustle. He started to follow the sound and saw a flash of light wriggle between two huge stones.
Although it isn’t safe to follow creatures that you don’t know much about, this boy knew so much about wildlife, and specifically reptiles, that he could identify the poisonous ones from the safe ones. Knowing he was safe, he followed the light, and behind the rocks lay the most magnificent python he had ever seen in his entire life. This python’s skin was covered in weblike patterns that looked like they could glow in the dark. The black in its eyes reminded him of skinny pencils standing up towards the sky.
He knew pythons are not venomous and that they can hurt you with their strong muscles, so he kept his distance. This python looked tame—as if it was used to being around humans. It was calm and still. It didn’t coil its body to defend itself. All of this assured him that he was safe in this python’s presence.
The boy got lost in a daze just staring at the long, muscular rope-like body of the python when, to his surprise, the python hissed as if to say, “Follow me.”
Since the boy trusted his own body and intuition so much, he listened for a YES and followed this shining yellow python. The python took him to a huge strangler fig tree. The boy noticed the python had some dirt and leaves stuck in the diamond scales of its skin. Then he saw the most magnificent thing. The python started to rub its snout against the edges of the tree, and all of its skin began to shed. Magically, all of its old skin was gone, and new skin began to grow. The python looked stronger and even bigger and definitely much shinier.
When this was done, the python just stared into the boy’s eyes. They looked at each other as if they knew exactly what each was thinking and saying to the other.
Suddenly, an acorn dropped with a thud.
The boy blinked awake, realizing he was sitting under his favorite oak tree. Had he dozed off? Was the python real? Looking down he looked at his body and his backyard. It looked the same it has always looked.Yet he felt very different inside – stronger somehow.
He thought of the powerful python as he ran back inside the house. His sister immediately looked at him and said, “You look like a baby!”
The boy’s heart felt tight like a bee stung him. He wanted to shout back or cry or say something mean to her. Then, all of a sudden, the most magical thing happened. He felt her words on his skin like the dirt and leaves on the python’s skin. And just like the python, he felt the words slide right off of him. As he imagined new skin growing, he felt himself grow even more. He felt himself grow bigger and glow brighter.
So, you know what he did? He shrugged his shoulders and walked right on by, while his older sister stared at him with her jaw on the ground, shocked at his courage to not let her words get to him.
So, you know what he did… he shrugged his shoulders and walked right on by. His older sister stared at him with her jaw to the ground, shocked at his courage to not let her words get to him.
From that day on, whenever mean words came his way – at school, in the playground, or even at home – he remembered his magical friend and let those words slide right off his shiny new skin.
Moral of the Story: “Don’t carry around the hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They are not yours to keep. They belong only to those who said them”. ~Ibtihaj Muhammad (The first Muslim-American woman to compete in a hijab at the Olympics for fencing)
