Lincoln's Story

Every evening when his work was done and supper was through, the boy would sit by the fire and listen to the stories his mother would tell of good people, true and brave. These were people who lived very different lives than he did. She spoke of long ago and far-off lands, telling tales of how people began. "Abraham," his mother would say—for that was his name—"always remember, child, that your words are magic. They can take you anywhere you wish to go. But choose them wisely, son, for they are powerful, too." Abraham nodded sincerely, for he understood.

Abraham loved to listen to his mother’s stories, and he loved to tell them as well. He would go tell stories to the animals. In the morning Abraham would rise early and go to the barn to greet the animals. There he would speak to the cows and horses, goats and pigs. He told his mother’s stories and laughed at the way these animals lived. "Ma," Abraham asked his mother one night in the firelight, "Why don’t the animals care whether they’re a pig or a cow? They like each other all right, don’t they?"

"Yes, son, they do. But people sometimes get confused. Sometimes they have to be reminded what’s fair and what isn’t. Sometimes people have to be told how to live together. Just like in these stories you hear."

Abraham thought about this for a bit. Abraham thought about things often and he thought hard. Sometimes it seemed to him that his head would simply burst for all the thinking he did.

One day when Abraham was hard at work mending a fence by the barn, he saw some friends of his walking home from the village schoolhouse. Abraham longed to go to school, but his family needed him at home. "Oh, how wonderful it would be," he thought, "to listen to all those words all day long! I suppose I will have to be satisfied with hearing my ma’s stories," he sighed.

"Abraham!," the boys called, "Abraham, look over here! This here is a new boy." The two boys nodded to a quiet boy following slowly behind them. They ran up to Abraham and whispered quietly, "You might want to stay away from him, Abraham. He’s not long in town and he talks kind of strange. They say he’s from the city somewhere. You know they have funny ideas in the city. Besides, all he wants to do is read those silly books of his. I say his mind is funny, that’s what I'd say." The boys elbowed each other and laughed.

Ignoring the other boys, Abraham climbed down off the fence and met the boy on the dusty road. "Hey there, what are you reading?"

The boy looked up cautiously and stopped. "Hey. This is my favorite book. It’s by a man named Aesop. I know, it’s a funny name, but I tell you, the guy does make you think!"

"Hmm, well, it seems to me thinking is a good thing to do. I know I do a lot of it. Do you mind if I have a look?"

"Sure." The boy handed Abraham his book and a lifelong friend was born.

It wasn’t long before Abraham's mother found him a copy of his own. And when she died, not long after, she asked Abraham to always remember his books, to read a little every day. And Abraham did, every day. Abraham learned about people, about life, and about goodness. Abraham grew to be a wise man. Though he never really went to school as he wished, he taught many people many things. Abraham never stopped reading, and he never stopped sharing all that he learned with those who would listen.