There once was a man called John who lived in "Other Land". He was a very good man all his life. He lived in a beautiful village, had a good job and a wonderful little home at the edge of the village with a white picket fence, flowers and trees over the land, the house was perfectly kept. He had a large garden and cooked well and ate well.
He was very well liked and respected throughout the village. He was a stable and happy man except for one thing- he had no wife and had never had one. More than anything he wanted a wife that loved him to share his home and his life with.
One day, walking home from work, he was in front of his house and noticed something across the road over a large field. There was a ladder from the ground to the sky and descending from the ladder were several girls in dresses, each with a basket in her hand. When they got to the ground, they began walking over the field.
John could hardly believe his eyes, and decided to walk over to them. He choose one who was especially attractive to him. He introduced himself and asked where they were from. The girl just pointed to the sky. After talking to her for a short time they all began walking back to the ladder.
John stopped the girl, who was named Elicia, and began telling her about himself. How he lived in a wonderful village, had a good job he loved, and of the home he lived in alone. He told her of his perfect life except he had no one to love and share it with. He asked her if she would stay with him for a while to see if she would be interested in staying and becoming his wife.
Elicia thought about this and decided she would try it. But, she said, you must never look into my basket. If you agree to this, I will stay. John was overjoyed and agreed. The other girls climbed up the ladder, and the ladder disappeared.
After a couple of weeks, John had decided he was in heaven with her. He didn't know he could possibly be this happy and she seemed to be the same. One day after work while Elicia was outside gathering vegetables from the garden, John looked at the basket in the corner. His curiosity overcame him and he walked over to the basket. He lifted the lid.
Elicia walked in at that time and John dropped the lid. She looked at him and said, "I told you to never look into my basket". John said, "I'm sorry, I'll never do it again".
Elicia asked, "John, when you looked in my basket, what did you see?". John said, "it was empty".
Elicia went to her basket, picked it up, walked outside and walked into the field. The ladder appeared and she started climbing the ladder. John rushed to her and said "I'm sorry, it will never happen again. Please come back". Elicia stopped, looked down at him and said "I'm not leaving because you looked into my basket, I'm leaving because you looked into it and found it empty".
John watched as she climbed into the sky, the ladder disappeared, and he never saw her again.
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I was watching television a few years ago and a man was telling this story to people gathered around him. I had never heard the story, but haven't forgotten it. I don't know who told it, where it is from, and it is retold from my memory and John and Elicia are names of mine to tell it.
Have you ever heard this story? Do you know where it is from?
I've told this to a few people and no one has heard of it. As much as wanting to know the source, I don't understand it and neither do the ones I told it to. Why did she tell him not to look into the basket? When he did, why did it not matter except that he saw nothing there? Why would she have stayed, but left when he said it was empty?
I've been wondering about this for years.
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beyondtheveil posted on Nov 26, 2007
| views: 239
Comments
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Mamie said on Nov 26, 2007....
I have no idea, but I am hooked!I hope someone knows the answer or we will be so sorry! -
silverwhisper said on Nov 26, 2007....
honestly, i don't know it, either--never heard that, either.
ed -
beyondtheveil said on Nov 26, 2007....
A small correction here since my "edit" no longer works. Where Elicia says the following, change to "I'm not leaving because you looked into my basket, I'm leaving because you looked into it and saw nothing there". I doubt it makes a bit of difference, however. -
the_infernal_optimist said on Nov 26, 2007....
I think it does make a difference, but I still don't know the story. I can theorize, but that's not worth much.
What an intriguing story!
~Infernal
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botoni said on Nov 26, 2007....
Like Infernal I can come up with lots of theories. It sure is an interesting story and I ve definately not heard it before. -
travelr712 said on Nov 26, 2007....
i've never heard it before either. but i'd say the moral is that the basket was her soul, and when he looked into it, he saw it as empty, he couldn't see what was really inside her, only what was on the outside. hey, it sounds good, anyway. -
Lioness said on Nov 26, 2007....
It's a nice story.. no, I've never heard about it either.. -
secretlife said on Nov 26, 2007....
this has many of the elements of classic fairy tales that are found in just about every culture- the jacob's ladder image.....a bridge from earth to heaven- something forbidden - like the apple in eden, or pandora's box.... happiness was within his grasp, right? yet he opened the basket; the one thing she told him not to do- the basket in many cultures represented life and joys and blessings--- since he saw emptiness in the basket, i think it might have meant that there was no life for the two of them- only emptiness. and so she went back to where she came from.... -
lfbno7 said on Nov 27, 2007....
The basket contains something she considers valuable. Otherwise she wouldn't be carrying it around with her. What to her is valuable, to him is nothing. So why stay? -
hotaka said on Nov 27, 2007....
I have never heard the story. I was very interested in it but I didn't understand why the basket was empty. What should he have seen?
It reminded me of a horror story where a guy who is being mugged in an alley gets saved by a living gargoyle. He fears for his life but the gargoyle only scratches him and says he must never speak of this to anyone, ever. Shortly after he meets a beautiful woman in the alley. They fall in love quickly and later get married. The man is an artist and his art career takes off. He is doing very well. They have children and have a beautiful life together. But he never forgets his gargoyle encounter and though he can't speak to anyone about it he often draws sketches and makes sculptures of the gargoyle. One day he decides to tell his wife about it. He thinks that he can trust her and as he never saw the creature again it must be safe. She is horrified when he tells the story. She says, "You weren't ever supposed to tell this to anyone." Then she transforms into a gargoyle before his eyes. From the children's rooms there's screaming - the children have turned into gargoyles too. Then she takes the children and they fly away into the night, never to be seen again. Somewhere, on a building in downtown, high above the streets, sits a gargoyle with two smaller gargoyles, stone solid, but shedding tears.
I thought that was a cool story.
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destinydiva said on Nov 27, 2007....
beyond, I was at this post last night and spent ages writing out a huge essay about what I got from the story.... it was similar ish to travs but didnt make any sense once it got out of my head and on to the page! :-) I do love it though... I'm still thinking :-) xx -
beyondtheveil said on Nov 27, 2007....
Hey, thank you all for trying to help. I've thought much on this and have gotten nowhere. Its like a riddle that won't leave your mind, like a tune you can't get out of your head. I have my theories too, but again, they go nowhere.
secret- I'll think about what you said.
hotaka- I liked your story.
des- Thanks for the time you put into trying. Don't let it get to your head.
mamie, Ed, botoni, infernal, travelr, lioness, 7, thank you for commenting and trying to help. I appreciate it.
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destinydiva said on Nov 27, 2007....
hey beyond, you know what you just reminded me of... I have this book which is enlightening meditation or something like that, and it is stories, like the one you mentioned, and the idea is to read one at a time and carry it around in your mind till it reaches your soul, and then you understand it, will have to dig it out and post some of the stories for you, its fascinating, like your story the ones I have read so far stay in my mind then all of a sudden, I kinda go....ahhhhhhh!!! ding!!! and the lightbulb pops up on my head and I get it :-) xx -
beyondtheveil said on Nov 27, 2007....
des- I hope you do that- everyone likes stories.
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