Darla and the Price of Gold: A Tale of Greed and Family

Darla Dean prided herself on one thing in her young life: she had never lost a single item she owned. Every ribbon, every worn shoe, every chipped cup, she could locate in a breath. Her mother often reminded her this wasn’t a feat of brilliance but necessity, for they were too poor to have much to lose. Still, Darla believed this was her hidden superpower—that she could never lose, even in fights or in life.

That belief shattered the day she returned home from the market empty-handed, save for three beans clutched in her small palm. The coins for bread and milk were gone, traded to a strange old woman who promised the beans would change their lives forever.

“Have you lost your mind?!” her mother screamed, her hands flying to her head.

Darla lifted her chin stubbornly. “I didn’t lose my mind, Mum. These are magic beans. They will grow so high we’ll find treasure in the sky.”

But her mother, hungry and weary, snatched the beans and threw them out the back window. “You fool. We can’t eat stories.”

That night, Darla lay on her thin mattress, her belly aching, trying not to cry. She whispered to herself that tomorrow, everything would change.

At dawn, Darla’s room was covered in shadows. She peered outside, eyes widening at the sight of a beanstalk stretching to the clouds, its thick vines coiling into the heavens.

“They’re magic,” she gasped.

Without a second thought, Darla climbed out of her window and began her ascent. She climbed for hours, her arms and legs trembling with exhaustion, but she refused to stop, driven by hunger and hope.

At last, she reached the sky, stepping onto a silver road that shimmered under her bare feet. She wandered until she found a towering house where a giant, as tall as five Darla stacked, sat on the doorstep. His thin, wrinkled face broke into a kind smile, and his gentle brown eyes softened as he saw her.

“Hello!” Darla called, waving.

“What brings you here, little one?” the giant asked in a warm voice.

“I’m hungry, sir. My mum won’t feed me, and I’m so hungry I might disappear.”

The giant chuckled sadly. “You must be careful. My wife… she’s taken to eating pretty girls lately.”

Darla shook her golden curls. “She won’t want me. I’ll make her as foolish as I am.”

With a sigh, the giant scooped Darla into his hand and carried her into a kitchen where loaves the size of beds and bowls of milk like ponds were set out. Darla devoured what she could, but before she could finish, thunderous steps shook the house.

“That’s my wife,” the giant whispered, hiding Darla inside the oven.

The giant’s wife was beautiful yet terrible, with auburn hair streaked with white and eyes that glittered with greed. She sniffed the air, chanting:

“Tee-ti-to-tum,
A pretty girl I’ll soon become,
Be her sweet, be her fair,
I’ll be her with golden hair.”

The giant denied smelling anything unusual and soothed her with sweet words until she fell asleep, snoring among piles of golden coins.

When the house quieted, the giant freed Darla and warned her to never return, but Darla’s eyes gleamed as she asked, “May I take a souvenir to prove the beans worked?”

The giant nodded, and Darla quickly gathered as many gold coins as she could, dropping them down the beanstalk to her garden. Her mother’s astonished face filled her with pride, but Darla wasn’t satisfied. She returned, convinced she could take more.

Once again, the giant fed her, but as she was leaving, Darla spotted a purse overflowing with gold. She tricked the giant into letting her search for a “lost ring,” inching closer until she seized the purse and ran.

But fate was not on her side.

The door swung open, and the giant’s wife caught her. “Thief!” she hissed, grabbing Darla with one hand.

“Please, don’t eat me!” Darla begged, sobbing. “I’ll taste bad. I’ll make you foolish and ugly.”

“Oh, I don’t want to eat you, not all at once,” the giantess replied coldly, pulling out a sharp knife. “I’ll take you piece by piece.”

Darla screamed as the blade sliced through her wrist, severing her hand. Pain and terror filled her, but the moment the giantess loosened her grip, Darla fled, cradling her bleeding arm as she ran down the beanstalk.

“Mother!” she screamed. “Get the ax!”

Her mother hacked at the beanstalk until it snapped, sending the giantess crashing to the ground, her cries ending in silence.

When it was over, Darla collapsed into her mother’s arms, tears streaming down her face. “I stole, Mum. I thought I’d never lose, but I’ve lost my hand.”

Her mother pulled her close, rocking her gently. “You are worth more than gold, Darla. We will find a way to live, even with what we’ve lost.”

Lesson:

Greed and pride can cost more than gold ever brings. True wealth lies in love, family, and knowing when enough is enough.