Previously

Deciding to go back to nature, the travellers have decided that a spot of fishing is called for and have managed to successfully catch eleven fish. As always a lesson has been learnt by the team.

The maxim ‘Do onto others, as you would have them do onto you', does not always apply, especially if others do not like the same things as you do. In order to get the most out of like and get on with people and have them help you on your journey, it pays to try to understand what it is that they like.

The story Continued

“I rather fancy continuing this nature thing” said Nunco “so why don't I go back the way we came, I saw some bilberry bushes as we came down the mountain side, they look quite like blue berries, and they are very tasty.”

“How do you know they are not poisonous?” asked Preteritus. “I was always brought up to avoid eating wild berries.”

“Interesting” mused Nunco. “How what we have been told, can influence our lives so strongly. Would you in any way feel that what we believe, without knowledge could affect what we can actually get out of life?

“Yes I do!” exclaimed Electra, rather excitedly. “It's just like the ‘don't talk to strangers' phrase we discussed earlier. This can lead to people later on in life being afraid of public speaking, until they are finally made to realise where that fear comes from.”

“So what in effect, what you're saying is” added Prostremo, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. “Is that beliefs you take on blindly, let's say on faith without actually experiencing the truth or indeed the lack of truth in them, can limit what you achieve?”

“Exactly!” said Nunco. “In fact many people refer to this blind faith as having a limiting belief.”

“A great example of this” he continued. “Is a story about a new wife who was cooking a joint of pork for her husband. Her husband happened to be in the kitchen when she was preparing the joint for the oven. Before adding the usual seasoning and slices of garlic under the fat after scoring the skin with a sharp knife, she cut off both ends of the joint.

“The husband wanted to know why she did that, which to him seemed rather a strange thing to do, but assumed that since she was Irish and he was from an other country that this may have been an Irish custom he did not know about yet.

“The wife told him, that she guessed it might have been Irish, but she was not sure as her mother had always done it. The husband appeared to accept this, but in the back of his mind, being a stubborn beast, he vowed to get to the bottom of it.

“About three weeks later they were asked over to dinner at his mother in law's house. After the usual chit chat, which actually included his wife's grandmother who was also visiting that day, the mother in law, went into the kitchen to put the final touches on the meal.

“As luck would have it, she was preparing a roast pork joint, along with the usual Irish trimmings such as; Carrots, peas, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, apple sauce and lashings of gravy!

“As he sidled into the kitchen, his mother in law was taking the pork out of the oven, to cut off the fat to put it with the roast potatoes to get nice crunchy crackling. He noticed the ends of the joint, now slightly browned, were also cut off. He innocently asked why she cut the ends of the joint.

“Somewhat perplexed at the question, she replied in the same vein as her daughter, telling him that she had watched her mother do it, when she was a child and funnily enough had never thought to ask why. She reckoned that it was just an old Irish custom.

“Not giving up, the husband decided that he would wait for the appropriate time to ask the grandmother whereby she had come across this custom. After a sumptuous dinner, settling back with a coffee and a delicious home made chocolate, the opportunity arose when his wife and her mother left the room to clean up the kitchen.

“Seizing his opportunity the man asked the grandmother, from whence this practice had arisen. It was simple she replied, telling him that when she had first got married, her husband and her self had not much money. Her Mother before her had taught her to always buy the largest joint pork as roast pork would keep a long time and the remainder from their monthly treat would last the rest of the week.

“The problem was, however that she only had two small roasting dishes and that she would cut the ends off the joint so that she could fit it into one of the dishes, while the two ends were roasted separately with the roast potatoes.”

“What this means,” said Electra. “Is that the custom, which was passed down through practicality, was now resulting in a poor practice due to the limiting belief that this was the best way to cook a joint of pork?”

“So, going back to the original issue of Pre eating or not eating wild berries” said Nunco. “What would have made more sense for him to believe would be to ensure that he only eats wild berries that he knows are safe and are not poisonous!”

“Does that mean we have to experience everything for ourselves then?” asked Preteritus.

“On the contrary” replied Nunco. “We can not be expert in everything in life, so then it makes sense to consult with someone who does know the answer.”

“Like the wife in your story,” said Prostremo. “She asked her mum the reason and yet she accepted half an answer, since her mum was not the actual expert.”

“As so many people do in life,” added Nunco. “They just take the answer that seems the easiest to accept, without question. This way they do not need to delve any further and their life can continue trudging on.

“Remember it is the path least travelled that has the most difficult passage, yet it is often the one that holds the greatest rewards. Because down this path are opportunities for learning and discovery, since the way has yet to be picked clean of goodness by hoards of people preceding you.”

“Thanks for the lesson in philosophy Nunco,” said Preteritus. “Can we go now and get these bileberry thingys and I'll even go with you so that I can learn and more importantly – I'm bleeding starving!”

“Great let's go,” said Nunco. “And to start the learning process, they are actually called bilberries, blue berries or frochans!”

“What ever!” replied Preteritus sullenly.

“While you are gone guys,” said Electra. “Prostremo and I will cook the fish.”

“Hope that's all you cook!” said Preteritus, with an other of his knowing grins.

Nunco and Preteritus headed off back up the path they had come down earlier and after about two hundred metres, they branched off, slightly up hill. The going go more difficult as they were no longer on an animal path, which as Nunco explained would ensure they had a better chance of finding some berries, since the animals had not yet eaten them.

Everything was fine for about thirty metres, until Preteritus tripped over a rock, hidden in the heather. Mouthing a string of purple obscenities, he got up and looked down at his hands, which were stained in a mottled pattern, with a kind of purplish coloured dye.

“Oh Sh$t!” exclaimed Preteritus. “Looks like I have just landed in some rabbit droppings.”

“Let me see.” Said Nunco, taking hold of Preteritus' hand and looking at his palm where the stains were. “Aha, looks like you have found some bilberries.”

Crouching down, looking at the little bushes about the same size as the heather with small oval leaves, green and mottled brown, with slight serrations, Nunco could see the small berries. They were about the size of a black currant, their bluish skin, slightly cloudy, yet shiny where he had held it picking it from the bush. Eating the first one, he picked another couple and handed them to Preteritus.

“Are you sure that these are Ok to eat?” asked Preteritus.

At that moment Nunco, giving a slight groan, collapsed into the heather, clutching his side, a small amount of purple saliva trickling out of the side of his mouth as he writhed on the ground.

“Oh my God!” shouted Preteritus. “Are you OK Nunco, answer me, are you OK, what happened?”

…To be continued.

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