Once long ago, in the very early days, two brothers lived in the garden. Which garden? The garden where all was peaceful and the all the food you needed grew on plants. This was the garden where gentle people could hear God’s thoughts.
The oldest brother was Sinbad; he gathered the food from the plants and shared this with the others who lived nearby. He also spread the seeds back into the earth so that more food could grow.
The youngest brother was Sosad; he spent his time with the friendly animals that followed him about because he knew where the best grass could be found. There were no wild animals in the garden.
One day Sinbad decided that they must have a competition. They would see who could prepare the best meal and they would ask God to judge the result. Sinbad immediately started to grind wheat to make some bread, and then he carefully selected the freshest vegetables for a salad as well as the ripest and sweetest fruit for the desert.
Sosad felt sad, he did not want to have a competition. But he did want to prepare the best food to please God. He knew where the best food was for the animals, but he had not learned to find the best food for people. He sat on a bank to meditate and clear his sad thoughts. As he did so he felt a gentle nudge in his back and turned to find his pet lamb. Although animals could not talk, Sosad knew that the lamb was saying “Here I am take me as the best food.”
Because the lamb was so helpful, Sosad was able to prepare a lovely juicy joint of meat and he was able to use the wool to weave a snowy white table cloth to put the meat on. Sosad had never prepared meat before so he didn’t know to that it was supposed to be cooked, he just left it tender and juicy. Sinbad laughed at the sight of the raw meat. He knew it should have been cooked in an oven just like the bread he had made.
That evening God came to the garden. God looked at Sinbad’s meal and was impressed. But God knew that Kings and Queens outside the garden ate meals like that every night. God was very touched by the way that the lamb had willingly died to make Sosad’s meat offering. The pure fire of God’s love reached out and cooked the lamb so that a pleasant smell filled the garden. The smell of the meat was better than the smell of Sinbad’s fresh bread. The lamb’s sacrifice and Sosad’s meal had obviously pleased God.
Angry thoughts raced through Sinbad’s mind he could no longer keep calm. In his anger he struck out at Sosad who fell backwards so that his head hit a jagged rock. Sosad was knocked out; but worse still his injury soon killed him. Once he was dead, he found his pet lamb waiting for him. Sinbad was sorry about his brother’s death. When God asked him why he had hurt Sosad, Sinbad answered that it was not his fault that Sosad fell over and killed himself. In reply, God told Sinbad that he must leave the garden and go to the outside lands. There was no room in this peaceful garden for angry people who won't face their faults.