A peasant came running up to a holy man, who was resting under a tree. “The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!”
“What stone?” asked the holy man.
“Last night I dreamed that I would find a holy man who would give me a precious stone that would make me rich forever,” replied the peasant.
The holy man rummaged through his bag and pulled out a stone. “He probably meant this one,” he said as he handed it to the peasant. “I found it on a forest path a few days ago. You can certainly have it.”
The man looked at the stone in wonder. It was a diamond, probably the largest diamond in the whole world; he took it and walked away. All night he tossed about in bed, unable to sleep. Next day at the crack of dawn he woke the holy man and said, “Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this diamond away so easily.”
[Several years ago I found this story on the Fairfield University website. I went back just now to find it and was unable to locate it... but I tried.]
Related posts:
Subscribe to
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Phil Ewing 10.12.09 at 7:59 am
Great story here and one that if applied by the fat cats would probably render global poverty to sum zero.
But I had better take the plank out of my own eye because I know that I still could live more cheaply than I do and there are still useless things I crave.
Denise 10.12.09 at 8:04 am
Good story. It’s by Anthony de Mello, right? It has the feel of his stories.
Paul 10.14.09 at 7:19 am
Phil,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, that plank in our own eyes gets us every time, doesn’t it? But I agree with you that we could end global poverty if we put our minds to it. Wasn’t it President Kennedy who first pointed out that we had enough food to feed the world but didn’t have the will to make it happen?
Paul