The Ear of Corn (Grimm)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The time of abundance: when corn grew magnificently
Long ago, when divine presence still graced the earth directly, the world experienced unprecedented agricultural abundance. The soil possessed extraordinary fertility far exceeding anything known in later times.
In former times, when God himself still walked the earth, the fruitfulness of the soil was much greater than it is now; then the ears of corn did not bear fifty or sixty, but four or five hundredfold.
The corn stalks grew magnificently from bottom to top, with ears extending along the entire length of each stalk. The longer the stalk grew, the longer its ear became, creating an impressive sight of golden abundance.
Then the corn grew from the bottom to the very top of the stalk, and according to the length of the stalk was the length of the ear.
However, this divine blessing revealed a fundamental flaw in human nature. When people enjoyed such prosperity and ease, they gradually lost appreciation for the heavenly gifts bestowed upon them. Comfort bred carelessness, and abundance led to indifference toward the sacred source of their blessings.
Men however are so made, that when they are too well off they no longer value the blessings which come from God, but grow indifferent and careless.
This human tendency toward taking divine gifts for granted would soon manifest in a shocking act of wastefulness that would change the world forever. The stage was set for a dramatic confrontation between divine generosity and human ingratitude.
Divine punishment and merciful compromise
One fateful day, a woman walked past a cornfield with her small child running alongside her. The child stumbled and fell into a muddy puddle, thoroughly soiling her dress. Faced with this minor inconvenience, the mother committed an act that would horrify any observer who understood the sacred nature of the corn.
Without hesitation, the woman tore up a handful of the magnificent corn ears and used them as mere cleaning rags to wipe the dirt from her child's clothing. She treated these divine gifts as common refuse, showing complete disregard for their sacred nature and the blessing they represented.
At that precise moment, the Lord happened to pass by and witnessed this appalling display of ingratitude and waste.
His divine anger flared at this ultimate expression of human carelessness and disrespect. In his righteous fury, he pronounced a devastating judgment that would strip humanity of the abundant blessing they had so carelessly squandered.
When the Lord, who just then came by, saw that, he was angry, and said, 'Henceforth shall the stalks of corn bear no more ears; men are no longer worthy of heavenly gifts.'
The bystanders who overheard this terrible pronouncement were struck with terror. They immediately understood the catastrophic implications of losing all corn production and fell to their knees in desperate supplication.
These witnesses pleaded with the Lord to reconsider his harsh judgment. They acknowledged that humans might indeed be undeserving of such divine generosity, but they begged him to consider the innocent creatures who would suffer from this decision. They specifically mentioned the birds, who depended on corn for survival and would face starvation if the stalks bore no ears at all.
The Lord, in his divine wisdom and compassion, recognized the validity of their concern. His anger toward humanity remained, but his mercy extended to the innocent creatures who had played no part in human ingratitude. Foreseeing the suffering that would befall these blameless beings, he felt pity for them and decided to grant the people's request for a compromise.
Thus, the ears of corn were preserved, though greatly diminished from their former glory, growing as they do in the present day - a permanent reminder of both divine mercy toward innocent creatures and the consequences of human ingratitude toward heavenly blessings.