When my children were very young they wanted to hear stories before they went to bed at night. Because I like to listen to stories and tell them as well, I would tell them stories I had heard and made my own. This tradition has been passed from generation to generation since human beings began having children. The stories I told them were not being told for the first time, and were colored by my own personality and style. But since the children were hearing them for the first time, and because they were using the stories to begin to understand their own place in the world, they often asked one of the very few important questions in the world: “Is this true?”
And, I would answer them by asking, “What do you mean by ‘true’?”
“If you mean, ‘Did these experiences happen just as they have been told, to the people with these exact names,’ then the answer is ‘I don’t know.”’
“But, if you mean, ‘Is there something in this story that touches a place inside me that helps me understand my life,’ then the answer is ‘Yes’.”
The value of these stories is not to be found in verifying the facts of the names and events, but in how they touch your heart when you hear them. How they inspire you to sort out for yourself the questions that are important to you, and to find the answers for your self.
So, these are some of those stories, and I hope that you will find them enjoyable and useful to you.
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