The Diamond Fields
I was explaining to James how most things are made from rocks, metals or oils dug out of the ground, which made me think about diamonds. I have heard that there really are diamond fields in some parts of the world.
Once upon a time, in a country so far away that you will probably never visit it, there was a little boy called Impy. His family was very poor and couldn't afford to send him or his brothers and sisters to school. In fact, they could hardly afford to buy enough food for them all to eat.
“I hear tell there's diamond fields up North,” said his mum, “We should move there, then we'd be able to live like kings!”
“So why don't we move, Mum?” asked Impy.
“Ha, little one, they are only stories, made up to give people hope. There's no such thing as diamond fields.”
So life went on, with poor Impy getting hungrier and hungrier.
One day, Impy decided that he had had enough. He decided to go out and find these diamond fields. “Farmers grow crops in fields easily enough, so I don't see why they can't grow diamonds!”, he thought to himself, but he did not tell his mum where he was going, because he did not think she would understand.
So he filled his bag with as much food as he could fit in and set off. He walked all day, but there was no sign of the diamond fields.
“Well, it is a long way up to the North”, he said to himself.
He walked all the next day too, and by the end he was very tired.
“Maybe it was just a story after all,” he thought, but he carried on walking.
By the end of the next day, he was about to give up hope, when he felt something hard under his foot. He scrabbled around in the soil and was amazed when he found that the hard thing was a fat, shiny diamond.
“So it is true!” he shouted out loud. All that week, he searched around in the soil, pulling out diamonds, both large and small. Eventually, he decided that he had enough diamonds to make him very rich. He carried on North, looking for a town where he could sell his diamonds.
All that day, some wicked men had been watching him from a distance. They were too lazy to look for diamonds themselves, especially when they saw how quickly Impy's nimble fingers could find them. When they realised he had finished searching, they went over to him, stole all his diamonds and ran away.
Impy sat down on the soil and started to cry. What was he to do now? He was running out of food and could no longer remember the way home.
He cried and cried and cried, until a woman appeared from somewhere and came over and tried to comfort him.
“What's wrong, little one?” she asked.
Impy explained what had happened.
“Don't worry, little one,” she said in a friendly voice, “If you're good at finding diamonds, you can come and help me and my friends. We have lots of food and we can help you find your way home.”
So Impy went to help them. All week he worked hard, finding lots of diamonds, which he gave to the women to look after. The women did not seem to find many themselves – mostly they just sat and watched – but they sang cheerful songs and gave Impy plenty of food.
After a week, in the evening, he said to the women: “I've helped you find lots of diamonds; please can we go and sell them and then can you show me the way home?”
“Of course, little one!” they said. “We'll head to town first thing in the morning.”
The next day, as the sun rose, Impy woke up and looked around. There was no sign of the women. He waited all day, and realised he had been tricked again.
This time, he did not cry. He thought instead. “Diamonds are no good,” he said, “I can't eat them and they just cause trouble. What I need is a field of corn. Then I can eat, and my family can eat, and maybe I can sell some to pay for me to go to school.”
He walked and walked until he left the diamond fields far behind, and eventually found a field full of tall wild corn. It look him a long time to harvest it by hand, but eventually he had enough to sell. He went back to a village he had passed earlier and sold it. He used the money to buy a scythe, which made it much easier to harvest the corn. Soon he had lots to sell.
So Impy became a farmer. No wicked people came to the corn fields, he had plenty to eat, and had money to buy tools to make his work faster and easier. Yet he was so busy that he had almost forgotten about his family.
Several years went by. One day, he was digging in his field when his spade hit a hard, shiny stone. Impy dug it out. It was the biggest diamond he had ever seen. He thought back to when he had left home all those years ago, and knew what he had to do.
He took the diamond to the big city, sold it and used the money to hire some builders. He went to the library, found a big map and worked out how to get back to his village, and off they all went.
His mum and brothers and sisters were so pleased that he was back and that he was doing well.
“But who are these friends of yours?” asked his mum, looking at the builders.
“They've come to build our very own school!” replied Impy.
All the children in the village were so excited about having their very own school, and some of the parents went to help Impy on his farm. Soon the village was prosperous.
One day, Impy's mum asked him, “How did you get all the money for the school and the farm? Did you find a diamond field?”
“Ah, there may indeed be diamond fields, but they're not worth visiting. Let's just leave them as stories, to give people hope.”