Study Guide for Earth Day

                                                                                    The Starfish  Parable

The cold ocean water washed over his feet. The Old Man scanned the beach slowly.

Hundreds of starfish littered the sand.  He bent over another sea star, lifted it up, waited

for a wave to come in and gently tossed it out to sea.  He stooped again, straightened

and pitched another one, darker and heavier this time.  Often he imagined their life in the ocean,

crawling across the watery sand in the rolling surf, operating solely on instinct.

A young man sat on an overlook, the wind and sea spray playing havoc with his hair and clothes.

He studied the Old Man as he carried out his tedious endeavor. What a foolish undertaking!

What a misguided old-timer!  After scrutinizing his actions for a while, the Young Man clambered

off the overlook and carefully picked his way around the craggy rocks, down to the beach.

Strolling over to the Old Man with a contemptuous smile, he said, “You silly Old Man,

what do you think you are doing?   Look at the all those starfish ahead of you, and then

 look at the ones that have snuck up behind you.  Your work will never be done.

What difference do you think you can make?”

The Old Man looked the Young One straight in the eye, carefully scooped up still another starfish

 in his weather-beaten hand and threw it into the sea.  He glanced at his challenger and said,

“It made a difference to that one.”

I take the listeners on a guided imagery through the story. I ask them to close their eyes and see

the old man - how old is he; what is he wearing, how did the sand feel on his feet; can he smell

the salt in the sea; what does he hear; how does the starfish feel on his hand; what is he thinking

as he throws the starfish into the ocean? Then visual the young man - what is he wearing; what

color of hair does he have; how long is it; what's on his feet; what did it feel like when he talked

to the old man? What did the old man feel when he heard what the young man had to say?

Remember the last line - "It made a difference to that one."

I tell them that storyteller tells images not words. Now that they have the images of the story -

the sights, the sounds, the smell, the feeling (both in their hands and their hearts), they can tell

this story. Storytelling is the first recycler. We take a story that has been used by many and renew

it with our images.

                                    Margaret Read MacDonald's - Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About

                                            This is an abbreviated version of the story found in the book...

The story starts with 2 friends, one a farmer and the other a shepherd, who have always gotten along.

When a disease kills the shepherd's sheep, the farmer insists that he split his land and let the shepherd

 now farm alongside him.  The shepherd hesitates to have his friend split his land but the farmer insists.

 They both settle into this new pattern of life – still the best of friends, when the shepherd finds a cask

of gold buried in the ground that had once been the farmers and tries to give it to his friend. The farmer

 insists that it now belongs to the shepherd and for the first time the two cannot agree!

So they take their debate to the local wise man who is in the process of teaching students when they

 arrive and so he puts the questions of how to solve the farmer and shepherd's debate to his students.

At this point in the story, I stop and ask the students what could be done with the gold. I tell them that

 there are no right or wrong answers. I have received some interesting answers. Many say that they

 should split the gold between the two of them. Some said that The money could be used for charity.

Others said that it should go to another person. I liked the one that said that the farmer should

buy the sheepherder more sheep.

1st student says - it came from the ground so put it back in the ground.

2nd student says - it was brought to the teacher so now it belongs to the teacher

3rd student says - it was found in the ground, ground is part of the nation, the nation is ruled by the

 Khan so the gold should go to the Khan.

The teacher is getting more disgusted by each of these answers so finally he turns to his fourth student

 and asks again.

The 4th student says - Since neither of these men want the gold, why not do something wonderful

 with this and create a garden for the poor where they can come and eat fruit, rest in shade, drink clear water

 and have a sanctuary from the harshness of life.

I stop the story at this point. The rest of the story is below. I think for the purposes of the exercise

 have them do, it is the perfect place to stop. However, here is the rest of the story...

The shepherd, the farmer and the wise man all think this is a marvelous idea
and the wise man even says that if the student is willing to take the gold
and go the Khan's city to buy seeds for this venture, then he will donate
the land where the student can plant this garden.

The student agrees and takes the gold to the Khan's city - a long trip
shortened by his imagining the beauty of this future garden. It takes him a
while to find his way in the busy city but finally he finds the seed
merchants and is just about to purchase his seeds when a camel train winds
its way through the market and the student is horrified to see live birds,
hanging by their feet and covered with dust, knocking against the camels
with each lurching step.

The student offers to buy all the birds and the camel driver laughs and
tells him the birds came from all over (mountains, forests, seashore, etc.)
and they are for the Khan to decorate his palace with their feathers and to
be eaten at his table. "No one else can afford them!"

The student holds out his bag of gold - and the camel driver sees it is even
more than the Khan will pay, so he sells the birds to the student. It takes
hours to untie, brush off the dust and set the birds free. Some need to wait
in the shade and be gently massaged back to life but finally all birds are
flying again and the student is walking home happy that he was able to free
them...

...until he realizes, upon reaching the ground that would have been the
garden, that he spent the money and now cannot buy seeds and the garden will
never happen. He drops to the ground and weeps, saying aloud his deed. A
bird hears this and flies off. Finally the student is roused from his
weeping by hearing the sound of wings. Thousands of birds fill the air and
tell him that they will help him.

The birds land and some begin to dig the ground to prepare the soil, rolling
the rocks to the edge of the garden to create garden walls. Others carry
seeds from hilltops and beaks full of clear water to put into pools (I
changed my version to the birds digging wells since I told this at a
sustainable environment event) and the biggest birds fly great distances to
bring rare seeds back. Then the birds fan the seeds and also breathe their
warm breathe onto the ground. Before the students eyes, the seeds sprout and
grow into trees with luminous apples, green lawns to rest on with
interspersed pools and beautiful flowers.

Word spreads quickly and when some of the rich merchants hear about this
marvelous garden, they leap onto their horse and ride to see it for
themselves, certain that anything this nice should belong the them. When the
merchants arrive, the walls grow higher and the gates slam shot and lock
with 7 locks. The merchants stand on their horses backs and reach over the
wall to grab the shining apples, but when they touch the apples, they are
thrown from their horses to the ground.

Finally the poor arrive since they had to come on foot. As they approach,
the 7 locks click open and the gates swing wide. The poor taste the apples
which are as sweet and juicy as they are beautiful. They rest in the shade
and drink from the cool waters and enjoy the flowers. When it is the end of
the day, some return happily to their homes, now at peace from their day in
the garden - but some have no homes. So the garden shuts its gates and
locked up the 7 locks and the walls grow yet taller to keep them safe
inside. The apples begins to glow a soft blue (?) light, the birds softly
sing sweet lullabies and all who remain inside can sleep peacefully for the
night.

Thus was the magic garden of the poor created - because of the dream of one
young man.

                                                        Discussion Questions and Story Ideas

How are these stories different? How are they alike?

How else can we do to make little differences in our environment?

Which story do you like better?

Ideas using the starfish parable:

Here is another version of the starfish story http://dreamemporium.com/starfish.htm

How did the author make the story his/her own?

What do you know about starfish? Here are some interesting facts. Can you make them into a new story?

Starfish have a simple eye at the end of each of their arms.
Starfish have a well developed sense of smell.
Starfish are able to regenerate themselves, even if only a small part of their body is left.
The mouth of the Starfish is on its' underside
Starfish (also called Sea Stars or Sea Suns) are related to sea urchins. They are not really fish.

The Folly Beach starfish, known as the White Finger Starfish, is part of the class Asteroidea and the phylum Echinodermata.

Asteroideas are the true sea stars and sun stars.

They vary in size from under ½ inch to 10 inches.

They are often found alive in tide pools. Those that wash up onto the beach are either not alive or near death. Some people think throwing them back into the ocean will help them, but it actually does no good.

If you find a White Finger Starfish you would like to preserve, simply lay it outdoors in a sunny location. It will turn white and harden. Some people like to paint them different colors.

Starfish are not shaped like stars until they are adults

If a starfish looses an arm, it grows back. If a starfish is torn in half, both halves will re-grow resulting in two starfish.

Each sea star has hundreds of tiny feet on the bottom of each ray. These are tube feet, or podia. These tiny feet can be filled with sea water. The vascular system of the sea star is also filled with sea water. By moving water from the vascular system into the tiny feet, the sea star can make a foot move by expanding it. This is how sea stars move around. Muscles within the feet are used to retract them.

Each ray of a sea star has a light sensitive organ called an eyespot. Though it can not see nearly as well as we do, sea stars can detect light and its general direction. They have some idea of where they are going.

One way they eat is by extending their stomachs over their prey and digesting it externally. They hunt for food on the sandy bottom and on reefs and on rocks.

Sea stars eat many things. A sea star's diet can include: barnacles, snails, sea urchins, clams, and mussels. Sea stars eat mussels and clams in an interesting way. They surround the shell and use the suckers on their feet to pull the two shells (or valves) apart. The sea star has enough force in its arms to actually bend the shell! This creates an opening between the two shells that is only .01 inches wide. Using this tiny gap, the sea star puts its stomach into the clam's shell and eats its insides. When it is done, nothing is left but an empty shell.

Here are some websites about starfish:

Books about Starfish:

Starfish
by Edith Thacher Hurd
Cut-paper collage illustrations and simple text introduce young children to scientific concepts about starfish.

Starfish
by Rebecca Stefoff
This nonfiction book introduces children to a variety of starfish through vivid full-color photographs and simple text.

Starfish: The Stars of the Sea by Connie Roop

Draw a picture of the starfish.
Write a letter from the starfish to the old man.

Ideas to use "The Farmer and the Shepherd" story:

What else could be done with the money?
Divide a paper into 8 sections and draw a picture of each scene in the story about farmer and shepherd..