The Donkey and cart races were very popular except when there was some practice runs before hand, that could get out of hand. Like the time Moriah was traveling on her donkey and cart and two others went racing down the road and one hit Moriah’s wheel and sent it careening down the road and into the river below the bridge. 

The head Dwarf was sent for, who sent for his retinue of workers who examined all the details and said the offender had to pay her two and a half pieces of silver, to right the wrong of the whirring wheel. All this was arranged and payment made to Moriah. The cart was mended in no time, with a few bangs of the hammer and cuts from the saw. Moriah kept the silver pieces in her pocket and liked the jingle they made and liked thinking of how she might spend them. Sometimes it kept time with the wheel going round and round on the road.

As time went on, Moriah felt a little bit uncomfortable in her own skin when she thought some more about the five pieces of silver. The spokes of that wheel went along groaning about how easily she got the silver. 

As her donkey tipped along on the road, his four hooves stepping high, a light grey, smart pony, she came to Farrell’s bend in the road over the stream. She pulled on the reins, as she noticed someone under the tree, sitting on the stone wall. Only one foot was visible. Bernie, the Leprechaun was comfortable on one of the flatter stones and was lighting up his pipe. 

Her pony went toward the water as she greeted Bernie. They were delighted to see each other and to catch up on all that needed review in their friends and families. Moriah shared her sour dough bread, flavored with honey, nuts and seeds . She put a thick wedge of yellow butter and cheese, on each slice and they enjoyed. They finished it all off with the sweet water from the springs that poured into the river from the Hill of Na Costa, in front of them.

Bernie was energized with the food and the talk and he got his tinker’s can and made tea for them both and they felt there could not be anything nicer than this tea served away from home. 

They could see the hill in the distance and just about see a flock of sheep on the slopes. The fairy forts, dotting the hill, their circles of trees, could also be seen, where the fairies lived, and while their eyes lit on them briefly, they did not linger, preferring to talk of other things. 

There was a rain shower but they were sheltered by the overhanging branches above their heads. They enjoyed the sight of a rainbow over the hill. As Bernie was going her way, he joined her on the cart. The pony walked up the hills and around corners between the bushes and the trees, that outlined the road between the fields. Sometimes the trees met in the middle above their heads. 

When Moriah talked to Bernie about the wheel and her five silver pieces, Bernie said “Karma.” 

And when she looked back into his kindly eyes and smile she was reassured. Could she have dealt with it differently.. but she had not. Now she had to put up with any misgivings she had. 

“What do you want to do about it now?” He inquired. She knew that turning back the clock was impossible and her hand was glued to the five silver pieces in her pocket. The karma was between the wheels? Or between the dwarf and her? Or between?  How did the Karma work anyway? 

“It is like this” said Bernie, as he claimed his second sight. “That person who run off your  wheel, owed you money form a past life. And now you have it back.” That is why you got a little  extra.

“Suppose they can not afford it, or it causes bad conflict in the family, or some other awful outcome.” Moriah belabored. 

“You, Moriah, are not in charge of what transpires within other people’s lives. That wheel that fell off caused them to be in touch with you and the Dwarf came and helped them pay a debt to you.” 

Moriah began to wonder on what to spend the five silver pieces, maybe she could trade up her cart for a bigger and shinier one. 

Maybe she would visit the family she had fleeced for the silver coins! If only she had not sent for the Dwarf. It did not matter what Bernie said about Karma, she still felt bad about getting the silver. 

She was having a hard time putting one foot on dry land and one in the stream in an attempt at balance. She hoped that she could be more alert to her feelings and pay attention and not get caught up in greed for the silver pieces.It was hard to turn things back now.

The old shadow, her own shadow, had won out – pleased and hardened into not melting down anytime soon, leaving her without enough sight in what she choose to do in this instance.

Moriah felt very glad to have seen Bernie. When he alighted from the cart at the end of the lane, Moriah let the horse gallop home for his evening ration of hay. Moriah was tired out and fell fast asleep in front of the hot turf fire.She dreamed of a naked woman coming toward her with some kind of a shekel on her right hand and left foot. She had five pieces of silver in her hand.

Moriah would have to make a bigger effort to connect the dots in herself, as well as both sides, so she would not be blinded by the dazzle of the silver and cheat herself of some true gold trying to emerge within. The end.