By Karin Ebner (Originally In English)

All children like fairy tales very much and I was no exception. Even later, when I was so-called grown-up, I sometimes still took refuge in fairy tales to comfort myself and to escape for a while into a world full of fantasy where everything is possible.

Since I came in contact with Master and the Quan Yin Method I began to read and understand those stories in a different way. I found Master's heavenly teachings everywhere. Maybe not at first, but often in between the lines. Therefore, those tales became very inspiring and more meaningful to me, maybe also because I began to see life more as a very funny story, just like a fairy tale.

I would like to introduce some German fairy tales from the brothers Grimm.

There was once a widow, who had two daughters. One was her stepdaughter, who was beautiful and industrious, and the other one, her own daughter, was ugly and lazy. She behaved most kindly to her own daughter; and made the other do all the hard work like a kitchen maid. So the poor maiden was forced out everyday onto the main road to sit by a well and spin so much that her fingers bled.

Once it happened that the spindle became drenched with her blood, so kneeling down by the well she tried to wash it, but unhappily it fell out of her hands and into the water. She ran crying to her dear stepmother and told her of the misfortune. However the stepmother berated her, and behaved very cruelly, saying, "Since you have let your spindle fall in, you must fetch it out again!"

So the maiden went back to the well, not knowing what to do. In her distressed state of mind, she jumped into the well to fetch the spindle. As she fell she lost all consciousness, and when she came to she found herself in a beautiful meadow, where the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers were blooming around her.

She got up and walked until she came to a baker's shop, where the oven was full of bread. The bread cried out, "Take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt. I have been baked long enough." So she went up, and taking the bread shovel, took out one loaf after another.

Then she walked on further, and came to an apple tree, whose fruit hung very thick, and which exclaimed, "Shake us, shake us. We apples are all ripe!" So she shook the tree till the apples fell down like rain; and when none were left on the branches, she gathered them all together in a heap, and went on further.

Finally, she came to a cottage, out of which a woman was peeping. The woman had such large teeth that the maiden was frightened and ran away. The old woman, however, called her back, saying, "What are you frightened of my child? Stop a while here with me. If you will put all things in order in my house, then all shall go well with you. Only you must take care that you make my bed well and shake the covers vigorously so that the feathers fly; then it will snow upon the earth. I am Old Mother Frost."

Since the old woman spoke kindly, the maiden took courage, and consented to engage in her service. Now everything made her feel very contented, and she always shook the covers so industriously that the feathers blew down like flakes of snow. Therefore her life was a happy one and there were no evil words, and she had enough to eat everyday.

For some time she remained with the old woman; but, all at once, she became very sad and did not know what was the matter. At last she found that she was homesick and, although she fared a thousand times better than when she was at home, still she longed to return. So she told her mistress, "I wish to go home and if it does not go so well with me back home as here, I will return."

The mistress replied, "All right. Since you have served me so well, if you wish to return I will take you up again myself." So she took her by the hand and led her before a great door which she unlocked; and when the maiden was just beneath it a great shower of gold fell. Much of the gold stuck to her, so that she was covered all over with gold. "That you must have for your industry," the old woman said giving her the spindle which had fallen into the well. Thereupon the door was closed, and the maiden found herself upon the earth, not far from her stepmother's house.

As she came into the court, the cock sat upon the house, and called:

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Our golden maid has come home again."

Then she went in to her stepmother and because she was so covered with gold, she was well received. The maiden related all that had happened; and when the stepmother heard how she had come by these great riches, she wished her own ugly, lazy daughter to try to do the same.

So her daughter was forced to sit down by the well and spin; and in order that her spindle might become bloody, she pricked her finger by pushing a thorn into it. Then after throwing the spindle into the well, her daughter jumped in after it. Then like her stepsister, she came upon the beautiful meadow, and traveled along the same path. When she arrived at the baker's shop, the bread called out, "Take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt. I have been baked long enough."

But she answered, "I have no wish to make myself dirty for you," and so she went on.

Soon she came to the apple tree, which called out, "Shake me, shake me. My apples are all quite ripe." But she answered, "You will do well to come to me. Perhaps one will fall on my head," and so she went on further. When she came to Old Mother Frost's house she was not afraid of the teeth, for she had been warned; and so she engaged herself to work for her. The first day she set to work in earnest, was very industrious, and obeyed her mistress in all she said to her, for she thought about the gold which she would present to her.

On the second day however, she began to become idle. On the third still more so; and then she would not get up in the mornings. She did not make the beds, as she was supposed to, and the feathers did not fly. So the old woman got tired and dismissed her from her service. This pleased the lazy daughter very much, for she thought, "Now the gold shower will come."

Her mistress led her to the door; but when she was beneath it, instead of gold a tub full of pitch was poured down upon her. "That is the reward of your service," said Old Mother Frost, and shut the door.

Then lazy-bones came home, but she was totally covered with pitch; and when the cock upon the house saw her, he cried:

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Our dirty maid has come home again." And the pitch stuck to her; and as long as she lived it never came off.

This story teaches us, like Master has said, that as long as our intentions are pure, the outcome of our actions will be pure too. And when we are pure, we will always get help when we need it.

For me, Old Mother Frost who helped the girl in despair is one of the heavenly beings. Because the girl's heart was pure, she was humble and ready to help, she was finally rewarded in abundance. It seemed to be gold that rained from heaven; but for me, it was also the girl's inner beauty that was reflected outside and protected her, so that even her evil mother could not help treating her nicely after she had returned home. Maybe her stepmother and stepsister only saw the material gold and did not know the true meaning of the treasure her daughter brought home. So her mother wanted the same for her own daughter thinking the outcome would be the same. But her own daughter's intentions were focused on the reward only and she was not at all ready to truly serve others. As we cannot cheat heaven, she could not stay long and got what she really deserved. Her ugly reward was just the reflection of her state of mind.

Similarly, Master has told us to be always careful about what we think, speak and do. We cannot really hide anything. Even if we can cheat other people for a while, at least some of the heavenly beings know our inside and finally we will get our reward.

THE TAILOR IN HEAVEN

One beautiful day God wanted to take a walk in the celestial garden and took all the apostles and saints with Him, so there was no one left in heaven except St. Peter. God commanded him not to let anyone in during His absence. Therefore Peter stood guard at the gate. After a while someone knocked. "Who's there?" Peter asked.

"A poor honest tailor," answered a thin voice.

"And what do you want?"

"Please, may I come in" he said.

"Honest indeed," retorted St. Peter, "about as honest as a thief on the gallows. You stole like a magpie, cut and cheated on customer's cloth anyway you could. You won't come to heaven. God forbade me to let anyone in until He returns."

"Be merciful," cried the tailor, "small patches that fell on the ground, that's not stealing and not worth writing about. Look, I'm limping, my legs are covered with blisters, don't send me back. Let me in, I'll do every kind of work: look after the children, wash nappies, wash and clean the benches on which they play, mend their torn clothes."

St. Peter was filled with compassion and opened the celestial gate wide enough so that the wasted body of the lame tailor could just slip in. He had to sit in the corner behind the door and St. Peter told him to be quiet and not draw attention to himself so that when God returned, He would not notice him and get angry.

The tailor obeyed, but when St. Peter went out of the gate for a moment, he got up and began to rummage about inquisitively in every nook and cranny. Finally he reached a place where there stood many beautiful, exquisite chairs and in the middle of them was a completely golden armchair set with glittering jewels. It was also much higher than the other chairs and placed before it was a golden footstool. God would sit in this armchair when at home, and from it He could see everything that was happening on earth.

The tailor held his breath, stood dumbfounded; but finally he could not resist his curiosity. He went up, and sat in the chair. Everything that was happening on earth was before him like on the palm of his hand. He even noticed an ugly old woman who was washing linen and clothes at a brook secretly place two veils to one side for herself. On seeing this, the tailor got so enraged that he caught hold of the footstool and flung it through the celestial clouds down onto the thieving old woman. But because he could not return the footstool, he stole away quietly from the armchair, sat down again in his place behind the door, and pretended that nothing had happened.

When God returned with His celestial entourage, He didn't notice the tailor behind the door, but as soon as He sat on His armchair, He noticed His footstool was missing.

"Peter, where is my footstool?" Peter did not know. "Did you let anyone in?"

"I don't know about anyone except the lame tailor who is still sitting behind the door."

God called the tailor before Him. "Did you take my footstool? Where did you put it?" He asked.

"Oh, God," replied the master tailor joyfully, expecting to be praised, "I threw it in anger at an old washerwoman on earth, because I saw how she was stealing two veils."

"Ah, you rogue," said God, "If I were to judge everyone like you, then what do you think would happen? How would things turn out for you? I would not have a single chair, bench stool, not even a poker, as I would have flung everything out at the heads of sinners. As of this moment, you can no longer stay here. You have to leave and find out, what is to become of you. For no one shall pass judgment here except I, God."

St. Peter had to lead the tailor out of the gate and because the tailor had worn soles and therefore blistered feet, he took hold of a stick and headed off for Waitingville where devout soldiers sit with empty jugs, and happily while away the time.

For me this story is teaching us that we should not judge others so quickly, because we tend to criticize exactly those weaknesses of others we ourselves have. Also, sometimes things look different after we have observed them for a while. The bad person turns out to be just a victim herself - a victim of bad circumstances perhaps, like the old washerwoman in the story. Maybe she was very poor and she just stole the two veils because she was desperate and had no other way to help herself.

Therefore this story reminds us, that before we criticize, condemn, or even want to punish someone, we should look at ourselves first observe the situation carefully, and not jump on anyone whose actions we dislike. Mostly we are not qualified to judge anyone.

Master has said that, we should not criticize others but learn to be better ourselves, and be a good example for others. This will be the best way to change other people as they will be influenced by us in a positive way.

The tailor was obviously not qualified for heaven as he was missing some of the heavenly qualities like truthfulness towards others and oneself, forgiveness, patience, etcetera. So even though St. Peter felt compassion for him and let him in, he could not stay long, as he could not behave. So he had to go and perhaps learn outside how to be better.

Its like when we practice. We can only stay in higher levels of consciousness for a long time when we are pure enough. Otherwise, even when we beg for mercy and we are pulled up by God's grace, we cannot stay there because having too many unheavenly qualities we drag ourselves down. So we have to be patient and change ourselves first; then we can stay in the higher realms without any problem.