story

Kim, Her Dog, and the Jaguar

JarediteStoriesLeave a comment

This is a story of a young Jaredite girl named Kim who was about 5 years old.  She was a very inquisitive girl and always wanted to explore her beautiful world.  She didn’t like being cooped up at home or in her yard, even when she was outside.  She wanted to explore the world!

On a beautiful sunny day, Kim was playing outside her home and saw some movement off in the distance that caught her attention.  She was intrigued!  So, carefully looking around to assure no one saw her (they did have to keep a sharp eye on her because she did like to wander off) she headed toward whatever it was that created the movement.   One of the family dogs, a large black dog that was almost her size, saw Kim leave and followed her. Once Kim saw the dog, she was glad the dog came. She really liked this dog; it was her favorite of the dogs that her family had.

As Kim walked down the path, a large cat-like animal jumped out at her, similar to a jaguar.  The dog intercepted the jaguar, stood between the jaguar and Kim, ferociously barked at it, and scared the jaguar off.  Because the dog had a unique bark and barked unusually ferocious, Kim’s mother and older brother heard the barking and ran to see why he was barking.  They found Kim, unharmed, the dog protecting her, and Kim was ecstatic because she saw a jaguar close up!!

Dinah and the Hair Clip

JarediteStoriesLeave a comment

There was a young girl, Dinah, who had beautiful long, dark hair.  She loved her long hair, but did not like hair in her face, which it often did.

One day while Dinah was at the market with her mother, she was about 12 years old, she saw a beautiful silver and gold hair clip that had several small blue, red, and white crystals in it.  Dinah fell in love with the hair clip as soon as she saw it.  She really wanted the hair clip. Actually, her mother also loved the hair clip and thought it would be a great solution to help keep Dinah’s hair out of her face.  The clip was beautiful and looked amazing in her hair.

Because Dinah was the daughter of a righteous Jaredite king, and her mother was the queen, when they went to the market, it was quite an endeavor.  Guards followed them as well as other members of the household.  This king did not like to call those who worked for him servants.  He considered all people equals, each person just had different roles or callings; all were important in his eyes.

Dinah’s best friend Atarah, a daughter of one of the king’s employees, decided to go with Dinah and her mother to the market.  Atarah was also a beautiful 12-year old and saw a different hair clip that she wanted.  Atarah’s hair was a beautiful golden color that flowed down to her hips.  The clip that Atarah found would have been perfect for her hair color.  It was made out of a darker metal and had small yellow and blue crystals adorning it.  Atarah did not have any money with her and felt really sad that she wouldn’t be able to purchase the hair clip.  Dinah, noticing the look in her friend’s eyes, discretely spoke to her mother, who then purchased her hair clip.

Immediately after purchasing her hair clip, Dinah fastened it in her flowing hair, pulling the hair away from her face to the side of her head.  She loved it!!  Not only did the clip hold her hair back, it was a beautiful clip, and a clip that she picked out herself.

Dinah and Atarah visited other vendors in the marketplace (followed by guards), looking at all the different items that were offered.  Soon it was time to go back home.  Dinah and Atarah found Dinah’s mother and they, along with all the others that came with them, went back to the palace.

Once they were home, Dinah invited Atarah to her room.  There, she had a surprise for her.  Dinah pulled out a small package and gave it to Atarah.  Atarah was shocked to receive a package.  Dinah excitedly, told Atarah to open it!  Inside the package lay the hair clip that Atarah wanted!  Atarah squealed with excitement and gratitude.  Dinah helped Atarah fasten the clip in her hair.  Atarah looked at herself in the mirror and felt so grateful for the beautiful clip.  Dinah and Atarah strolled through the palace, arm in arm, showing off to everyone they met their beautiful hair clips.  As they met Dinah’s father, the king, he gave them both big hugs and told them how beautiful they were and how proud he was of them.

Dinah was beautiful on the outside, but even more beautiful on the inside.  She was kind and giving to all those she met.  She emulated her Father’s ideas of how each person was equal.  No one was better than another person.  She treated everyone she met the same, as they were a pure son or daughter of God.  Her giving a hair clip to Atarah was one of the many examples of the generosity she gave to others.

Dinah did not marry as she passed away as a young adult.  She left an amazing legacy of kindness and generosity for all those who knew her.

Clothes

JarediteStoriesLeave a comment

There is a girl, about 8-10 years old, with a doll in her hands.  Sariah is her name.  The doll is beautiful, something that someone living in your time wouldn’t expect for 1000s of years ago.  The face is like porcelain, almost like a Victorian style doll, but with different clothes.  The doll is clothed, but different than you might imagine from videos about the Nephites and Lamanites.  You may assume that the Jaredites would dress similar to how you envision the Nephites and Lamanites, but that isn’t the case.

We had skilled weavers and grew cotton, and other various plants to make beautiful clothes.  Cotton, just like now, was a vital trade item.  Cotton farmers were very valuable and respected.

We used wool from sheep and other animals that we domesticated and herded.  We made shoes from the leathers/skins of animals; and had silkworms to make silk.  Some of us made dyes for our cloth, with a variety of colors.  We didn’t have all the different types of fabrics that you have in your time, but we had a plentiful variety in our clothes, more than you would realize.

During disobedient or wicked times, some merchants would do like your society does, put a name on their clothes and mark up the price, much higher than it needed to be.  It didn’t cost those merchants anymore to make or buy the clothes, they just increased the price.  And, some people would pay the increased price and show off the designers name.  If they only knew how ridiculous they looked.  What is in a name?

So, during times of disobedience and wickedness, divisions based on wealth began to form as our people tried to outdo each other with the price of clothes, goods, and services.  It was sad when that happened; our people were not truly happy.  I much preferred the peaceful times, when our people were obedient to God’s commandments.  That is when all of us received  fair prices for goods and services and when we really prospered.  There was more than enough for everyone, not just the wealthy.  Actually, there really wasn’t a class of wealthy people; we were one, we were united.  Our society was truly abundant!  God poured His richest blessings to us!

Cozeen and the Ball

JarediteStoriesLeave a comment

A cute, little 3-year old girl with long dark hair and chubby cheeks (but she isn’t chubby), and her father came home from the market with a very unique bouncy ball.  Someone found some materials that would bounce and made balls from it.  The ball was about the size of a baseball or softball.  The girl, Cozeen, loved the ball!  She was the youngest of several children and her older siblings were a bit jealous of the ball, especially the two that were just older than her.  One of them, a 5-year boy, tried to sneak the ball away from her, but her father caught him and  gave the ball back to Cozeen.

Cozeen’s family played together, bouncing the ball to each other.  They gathered in a big circle,  bouncing and throwing the ball to each other.  Other families came and watched, and decided that they needed to get a ball also.  It was new to them and quite the thing to have.

Cozeen took that ball with her wherever she went.  She took it to her friend’s house, she slept with it.  She even wanted to take it to church, to the synagogue, but her father told her that she had to leave it home.  The first Sabbath day after receiving the ball, she cried and cried.  She so badly wanted to take the ball with her.  That was a long church service for her parents, as Cozeen could not be consoled.  As soon as the services were don, she practically ran home from church, just to get to her ball.  The following Sabbath days were not as bad. The novelty of the ball wore off after a while, and Cozeen knew that the ball would be there when she got home.

Cozeen kept the ball until she grew up and married.  She always loved that ball and would play with it occasionally as she grew up.  She gave the ball to her oldest child, a girl, who loved the ball just as much as Cozeen.

Crystal Necklace

JarediteStoriesLeave a comment

There is a young Jaredite girl, about 17-18 years old with a beautiful crystal necklace on.  The crystals are set in a silver type metal.  It looks kind of like a crown, yet it’s a necklace.

She bought the necklace in a marketplace from an artisan who makes handcrafted necklaces.  He searches caves and rock outcroppings to find the perfect rocks/crystals and then carves and polishes them to make them look beautiful and shiny.  He uses a form of a rock tumbler similar to tumblers that we have.  However, their technology was different than ours; but actually, his tumbler was more effective and efficient than our tumblers.  Sometimes he bought crystals from other vendors, since he didn’t always have time to find and tumble every crystal.  He bought the needed metals from metal vendors, then heated and shaped the into beautiful necklaces.  He made placeholders in the metal to hold the crystals, then glued the crystals in place.  The glue was different than what we use, but very effective.  The crystals never came out of the necklace.  Sometime he would drill holes into the crystals and then put a wire through the holes.

This girl bought the necklace to go on a “date”.  A young Jaredite warrior saw the beauty in this girl and asked her father if he could take the girl for a walk.  Well, the girl thought that the young warrior was very handsome, so she wanted to look extra nice!

The girl lived during a righteous and prosperous time, so she had the coins she needed to trade for the necklace.  One of the ways she earned her coins was by taking care of other children.

Well, the necklace must have worked!  They enjoyed their walk and soon afterward, they married.