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| Charlie and the Corn Stalk, a rural fairy tale |
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| Charlie was a young boy who came from a poor family. Their farm was small and not particularly productive, and his dad was not the best farmer in the world. One day his dad handed Charlie a gas can and the family’s last few dollars. He told him to walk to town to get some gasoline so he could take a truck load of corn to the elevator to sell. On the way, Charlie met a stranger who offered him some magic corn seeds in exchange for his gas can and money. Not being the sharpest kid in his 4-H club, Charlie readily agreed. He thought these surely must be those new triple stack GMO (genetically modified organisms) hybrids, and they would help his farm be more productive. His father was furious, threw the seeds out the window and sent Charlie to bed with no supper.
The next morning Charlie awoke to find a giant corn stalk had grown next to the house; it stretched as high as he could see. Remembering the good fortune Jack had with his bean stalk, Charlie scampered up the stalk and disappeared into the clouds. Several hours later he returned, not with a golden egg, but rather a bottle of clear liquid. He told his father it was a magic fuel that would run their old truck. Skeptical, his dad poured it into the old truck and it started on the first try. Returning from town,
Charlie’s father remarked how well the old truck ran with the new fuel and instructed him to climb the stalk tomorrow and get more of it.
This went on for several weeks and soon Charlie’s dad was selling the new fuel to his neighbors for a handsome profit. Word of this magic fuel began to spread. Soon people from miles around were coming to Charlie’s farm to buy some of the magic fuel. Several of his neighbors opened restaurants along the road to accommodate the new tourism. The increased tax revenue allowed the county to pave the road to Charl |
| 4/18/2007 |
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