This is a story unlike what you have ever heard before. It is not the story of a strong knight who defeats a mighty dragon. It is not the story of a mysterious man who allies with some other odd fellows who went on to be famous authors. It’s not even the story of a boy who is living a regular, boring life. This is the story of a peanut. A peanut who we will call Charlie.

Charlie was a peanut. His mother was a mighty peanut tree, that towered over all the oaks in the area, but Charlie was just a peanut. Charlie lived with his mother long after all his siblings had left, but one day she said to him, “Charlie, you’re a peanut.”

“I happen to know that,” Charlie the peanut replied.

“I know you know that,” said Charlie the peanut’s mother, “But that gives you no excuse to not go get a job. I hear Skippy’s has several job openings for peanuts like you.” Then she dropped him.

Charlie was sad. He missed his mother, even though she was directly above him. He sat there for a while, feeling despondent when a squirrel walked up.

“You’re a peanut,” said the squirrel.

“Yes, I am,” said Charlie, who was a peanut.

“That means you probably taste good.” Said the squirrel.

“I suppose so,” said Charlie, who would’ve tasted good.” The squirrel was about to pick up Charlie when a human walked out. The squirrel ran up the mighty peanut tree, and sat up there, watching the human warily. The human looked down at Charlie, then picked him up.

“This is a peanut,” the human said to himself, then he took Charlie into the house while the squirrel chittered nasty insults about peanut thievery.

The human walked over to a pantry and opened it. He pulled out a large opaque bag that said ‘Peanuts’.

“I wonder what’s in that bag,” said Charlie. The human dropped Charlie into the bag, and Charlie landed on a large pile of peanuts.

“You are a peanut,” the peanuts chorused.

“So I’ve been told,” said Charlie. He sat in the dark bag for a long time.

Later, the bag began to move. It turned upside down, dumping Charlie into a bowl, and all the other peanuts fell on top of him.

“This is uncomfortable,” said Charlie.

“You are a peanut,” said the other peanuts.

After a while, the weight began to lift off of Charlie. He saw a light above. A human hand grabbed several peanuts.

“Goodbye,” said the peanuts. “We are doing what peanuts are meant for.” Charlie had a strange urge to not get eaten. He tried to jump out of the bowl, but he was a peanut. Someone reached down and grabbed him. The person was cracking open the peanuts, one at a time. Charlie was next. He was about to be cracked, but then… the human dropped him. He fell onto the ground and lay there, not daring to move and not capable of movement, for he was a peanut. After a few hours, the humans began to leave. The last human stepped on Charlie, pushing him into the ground.

As he lay in the dark soil he thought about what everyone had been saying to him. He was a peanut. Nothing more than a peanut. But he began to realize, that the other peanuts were wrong. He was not meant to be eaten; he was meant to become what his mother had become: A mighty peanut tree. So he grew, and he grew.

One day he was able to see the light. Over a long time, he grew as tall and mighty as his mother. He had succeeded. He had done what he was meant to do. He grew into a mighty peanut plant. I am not sure he ever came to realize that peanuts do not grow into trees, but he still taught all peanuts everywhere that they could be more than just peanuts.