Sam | Engel Kids Stories

King Samuel sat at his throne, twisting his staff in his hands. He had already taken care of his duties for the week and no problems had arisen in his kingdom. This had left him quite bored and lonely, as the rest of his village had to attend to their daily jobs.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and the guards parted their swords to let whoever was there inside. Another guard walked in, dragging a handcuffed man with him. The man looked thin and cold with not much to shield him against the crisp winter air outside.

“I’m sorry to bother you my liege, but this man has been causing quite the ruckus,” the guard said, tightening his grip as the man struggled.

“That’s not true, I-,” he tried to make out.

“Quiet!” the guard interrupted.

King Samuel held his hand up to stop the guard and gestured towards the man to come closer. He shuffled towards Samuel with his head down.

“Tell me your side of the story,” Samuel said.

“I had been searching for food all day and had grown quite weary as well as my fingers turning blue. That’s when I smelled the most delicious fragrance I had ever encountered. Next to me was a restaurant and inside I saw people eating such beautiful lasagna. Although my pockets were empty, I had to have some. That’s when the owner found me rummaging through the trash and called the nearest authority,” the man said quietly.

King Samuel paused for a minute before speaking again. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Rowley, sir.”

“Call me Samuel, please. Now this restaurant, do you remember its name?”

“I believe it was called Larose’s.”

King Samuel gestured for his guard to approach and leaned down to whisper into his ear. He gave Samuel a confused look before quickly leaving the room. He returned a few moments later, un-cuffing Rowley and handing him some warmer clothes.

“Your table is ready, sire.” The guard said to King Samuel. “The food shall arrive shortly.”

Kind Samuel led Rowley into a room to change, then brought him to a rather large and beautiful dining room. The ceiling went up at least 40 feet and the room had lots of beautifully crafted furniture. In the middle was a table with two places set.

Rowley and Samuel each took a seat at the table and waited for the foot to come. The owner and servers of the restaurant brought out two large dishes of lasagna with multiple sides. As Rowley and Samuel began to dig in, Kind Samuel turned to Rowley.

“You were right; this is the most amazing lasagna I’ve ever tasted!”

In a small village east of Indianapolis but west of Terre Haute, a young boy stared at his desktop… at the lumpy rag he could just barely see. Beneath the rag, was his prized possession. His Bee-Whacker. A gift from his father on his thirteenth birthday, who thought him old enough to start on his Bee-Whacking apprenticeship. He had a hard time sleeping, knowing that early in the morning his brother would take him Bee-Whacking. He finally drifted to sleep, and dreamt of becoming the Bee-Whacking champion, and of people comparing him to the ultimate Bee-Whacker, Sam.

The next morning, he rushed out with his brother, not even bothering to stop for breakfast. His Bee-Whacker in hand, he was ready to take on the world, and he barely listened to the instructions given to him by his older, more experienced brother.

He saw his first bee close to the field situated near his back yard. He rushed at it and swung. The bee flew away. His brother had stopped walking, and simply watched, while he went from one bee to another, swinging, and mostly missing.

After his tenth swing, he grew frustrated. He threw the Bee-Whacker to the ground and stomped his feet. “I’ll never be a good Bee-Whacker,” he yelled. “I’ll never be like Sam.”

His brother sighed and put his arm around the boy. “Listen, being a good Bee-Whacker is more than just being able to hit them. If you want to be a good Bee-Whacker, you have to look at the great ones—at how they lived their lives… not just how they whacked bees.

“Sam the Man wasn’t just good at swinging a Whacker, he was a sportsman, through and through. He had patience, and he didn’t let himself get angry when things went wrong. He treated everybody with respect, and never tried to hurt people. If you want to be more like Sam, you have to learn about his overall character, and emulate that. Then you’ll become a truly great Bee-Whacker.”

“You’re right,” the boy said. “I’m gonna try to be more like Sam.”

“You mean you’re going to try to be more like Sam,” his brother said. “Remember… Sam didn’t care for grammatical errors. They called him English.”

“Okay,” the boy said, smiling. “Let’s go whack some bees. Maybe I’ll even hit one so hard it’ll stick to the Bee-Whacker.”