The Nameless Little Liar

  There was once a little boy whose true name none knew and whose true story none remembered or told. He would travel the land for most of his days, telling stories of pure imagination yet at such charm that one would do nothing but believe. One day he stumbled upon a farm, filled with grape trees, yet there were no farmers. Had he not lied about his wit and strength during his trip on the road, he would have not found such a place. His belly roared out of harsh hunger. He stretched his arm to one of the trees and sent the fruit down into his bowels. His tongue danced in joy, and his belly was soon silenced. He sat in the shade of a tree, sensing coolness passing by his skin and across his veins. His eyes were closed, and he soon drifted into the world of dreams. About a day since then, he opened his eyes like a newborn baby. He had no knowledge of who he was or how he got there, only that he woke up under a grape tree with a piece of a torn paper in his tiny hands.

“Forgive me for not leaving a warning, dear stranger! Aye, beware of these grapes for they suck all knowledge of yourself, your true self. I know you are confused now, but I give you comfort in telling you that I know who you truly are and what your story was. Below you shall find your full name with an account of your whole life,” the paper said. Yet when he looked down, the paper was torn, and thus he knew none of himself.

“I can ask the people on the road! They must know something,” he thought to himself.

On the road, he met different people with different stories. A boy about his age, told him that he was a rich governor’s son who lived in a nearby villa. When he couldn’t find the villa, he met an elderly woman. She told him that he was a young orphan who turned to her for food and shelter. Later on, a mother holding her sick baby in her arms reached out to him as she claimed that he was a magician with a mastery over the seven healing arts. An army of soldiers asked him to join them in a battle against a giant for he spent his life slaying the old giants that once enslaved the world of men. A scholar begged him for knowledge for he was the one most knowledgeable of the world’s secrets. A beggar pleaded for gold for none was richer than he was. A group of musicians asked him to play on the lute for he was the best player in the land.

With barely enough strength in his feet to walk further, he fell on his knees lamenting and cursing his awful fate before an old man with a sweaty shiny face stood next to him; he replied on a wooden cane to walk.

“Why do you cry, dear boy?” the old man asked.

“I do not know who I am; neither do I know my story. The people tell different stories about me, and I can’t know which one of them is true. If only that paper was not torn,” the little boy said in grief.

 “People tell different stories about you because you lied. The truth is that you are a liar, and you were punished by losing sight of who you truly were. If you had told the truth, you would have gotten the truth. Since that you spoke none of it, you could not get any it back,” the old man said with a smile.

“What should I do now? Is there anything I can do so that I am to be forgiven and therefore given my true name back?” the boy asked with a tear crossing his tender cheek.

“Yes, there is something actually. Now, if you promise me that you will never lie to any creature anymore, I will give you the other half of the paper that speaks of your name and your true story. A truthful promise is all you need to make, for if you give the truth, you will get the truth back,” the old man said, wiping the tear from the boy’s cheek.

“All right then, you have my word that I will not tell a lie anymore,” the boy said.

“Not so fast, dear one! I will put my hand on your chest while you speak your vow so I can know that those words came from the heart, that they were none other but the truth,” the old man said before he placed his hand on the little boy’s chest, nodding for him to start his vow.

“I promise you that I will speak nothing but the truth. No creature shall hear a lie carried through my tongue. No ear shall welcome a lie I spoke. I will speak only what is in my heart, not whatever story my mind had created. And if I do not hold true to his vow, then let me wander the land as a nameless little liar. That is my promise to you, dear sir!”

While the little boy spoke his vow, the old man closed his eyes and smiled. He put a paper in the boy’s hands before he bid him farewell and went on his way. The boy jumped in joy. He kept the paper close to his chest as he ran in excitement. Not only had he managed to find the other half of the paper, but he fooled the old man since he was determined to lie again. He went back to that same tree under which he had slept before he lost his memory. His back faced the trunk of the tree. He unrolled the torn paper with all hopes to know his name, his true story. There was nothing but a single sentence.

“I lied too.”