The Lizard and the Garden

One afternoon when I was walking home with my grandpa, we passed a little garden on the hill.

There was a small, old house there, perched above a tidy shade garden. It was nestled like a glove into a tumble of boulders and pine trees. The garden was loved and generous and welcoming by the small farmers who lived around. Nobody lived in the house anymore; but the garden still had its charm.

It was mostly dense forest or dry, rocky dirt around it. Some houses had more formal, gated gardens, but most of the neighbors had small, overgrown lots with cluttered yards.

A long time ago, my grandpa said, the garden was planted by Mrs. Olson, a war widow. He said that she was calm, capable, generous, and understanding. Wherever she went, order and grace followed, my grandpa said.

Back then, she birthed three boys in that house, nearly on her own: Sven, Theo, and Peter, and raised them there, as well. They never wanted for anything and did well enough in high school. The oldest boy, Sven, turned out as oldest boys often do when the father is gone; he was sturdy, serious, loyal, and dutiful to a fault. Quick to help his mother manage the house and— in their minds, too quick to manage his brothers. Theo was clever, slender, sly, quiet, and hard to find. The youngest, Peter, was cheerful, charming, outgoing, always busy, always talking, planning, organizing, and engaging with others. Annoyingly, Peter was most engaging with others, whenever chores needed to be done.

When there were visitors, which was often, each of them did their part: Mrs. Olson cooked and greeted, Sven served, cleared, and tended to the guests; Peter enjoyed being enjoyed; and Theo was hard to find. But no matter what, the brothers always cleaned up together, until one eventful evening.

There was a harvest feast at the house that night, the kind when the local farmers drank too much, and laughed too loud. They came and went with a joyful clamor and din, but left behind an impressive mess for the boys. As was usual, Sven woke Theo from a good nap to clean up, and then called out for Peter to help. But Peter did not listen to Sven call to clean up. So Sven and Theo taunted and threatened Peter, and even twisted his ears, but Peter was too busy with his own task, which was organizing his toys.

Then Sven dragged Peter by the collar, and still, Peter resisted, so blows were exchanged. The greatest damage was to Peter’s prized toy, his model car. Accusations were made, insults were hurled, revenge was promised, until Mrs. Olson stepped in. Eventually, Peter surrendered and helped his brothers, so Sven’s anger briefly cooled, but it was not settled. Peter’s selfishness was stuck in Sven’s throat.

The next day, Sven’s anger entered the room before he did, looking out for Peter and his mistakes. His footsteps fell heavy and loud, and the doors closed hard behind him. In the garden, Theo and Sven had already worked for hours without Peter, when Sven’s anger boiled over. Peter’s excuses and explanations only made it worse. Exhausted by his own frustration, Sven distractedly picked up a rock as big as a grapefruit, and looked back at the house.

Just then, out of the corner or his eye, a lazy lizard dozing on a low wall caught his attention. He lifted the rock above his head to crush it instead. Suddenly, it turned its body back towards Sven and its big black eyes flashed a warning. With a flick of his pink tongue, the small greenish brown grey lizard froze the action:

“Do you believe in magic, boy?” Sven stopped, but he was not alarmed, “I believe in what I can see and hear. But I cannot believe my senses now.”

Without a pause, the lizard asked him this riddle: “Suppose that I was admiring my own image in a pond and a fish swam through it, and ruined the image. Would I be harmed?”

Sven thought, and said, “Since the image was just a copy, and can be easily remade - no….not harmed.” Sven was pleased and surprised by his response.

“Indeed” agreed the clever newt. “And, so, on the other hand, if you had crushed my leg with that rock in your hand, I would be harmed, but my leg will grow back.” Sven was puzzled by the answer, so he dropped the rock to think a little. This puzzled the lizard, so he said, “You look puzzled, boy.”

“If your leg was crushed, you would feel pain because it is your leg, and you could not run with only three legs. If your image in the water was ruined, you would feel no pain and you would be whole,” said Sven.

At this, he scurried closer to Sven and looked slowly and dramatically around the garden with both of his big beady eyes. “And this beau-ti-ful gar-den, if it is overgrown and unruly because nobody cares for it, how does that hurt you young man? Is that more like a damaged reflection, or like a crushed leg?”

A silence hung over them, because when Sven was uncertain, he chose silence. The suspense was only broken when Theo abruptly appeared out of nowhere and answered, “The ruined garden is NOT like the image, because it is not just a copy that can EASILY be replaced. It is ALSO NOT like the crushed leg, because it will be whole and the garden will not feel pain if it is harmed.”

“So, when Peter refused to clean up the garden today, what harm was done?”

Sven spit out breathlessly, “I was harmed because I had to complete his chores for him, which made me extra tired. And if I was too tired to do them, nobody would do them, and then the home and garden would suffer….. and Mother would be out of sorts, and the house would be unprepared, and the farmers would not be able to rest in such a good place.” And then he paused to catch his breath, looked around at the garden and then burst out righteously, “And, it’s just not fair!”

“Aha!” the lizard cried out, “Now, now, now …show me exactly where you were harmed when Peter neglected his chores?” The pesky pest was pleased with himself.

Sven looked up and down unsuccessfully for the wound to answer the question, but he was speechless and silent again.

From nowhere, " “Fairness” itself was harmed. Peter hurt "fairness" by neglecting his chores, not Sven,” Theo said calmly.

Quickly but calmly, the chatty skink fired back, “Was fairness harmed in a “ruined image” way like my reflection in the stream, or in a “crushed leg” way?” This last riddle was too much for Sven and his anger erupted.

“What are you anyway? Why are you arguing with me and defending Peter? If you told him to do the right thing, nobody would get hurt, the house and garden would be clean, and everybody would be happy!” Somehow, the rock had already returned to Sven’s clenched fist, and his arm was drifting up.

Frightened, the magic lizard fled back into a very dark, deep crack in the rocks. Behind him, Sven heard him say, “Happy is as happy does. Anger is the death of joy.”

The next day and for years to come, the boys kept up the house and garden, and the farmers enjoyed their rest, and the clever Lizard and the lazy Peter avoided Sven’s anger. And eventually, the brothers moved on.

Grandpa also said that the garden still never gets overgrown because the magic lizard that lives in the rocks comes out at night to keep it tidy.