WISDOM STORIES

 

Every little bit counts

They tell the story of a harvest festival held in a small French village. It would be a week of celebrations and thanksgiving.

It would be a community effort. Each family was to contribute some of the food and drink. In fact, they would make filling the wine barrel at the fair grounds. Each family would bring five litres of their own wine and pour it into this community barrel from which they would all drink.

On the final day of the celebrations, the mayor of the town was asked to open the barrel and pass around the wine for one great toast. He opened the tap and drew the first glass. He tasted it. It was only water!

You see, each villager had brought water and saved his own wine at home. Each one was so sure that in so large a barrel a little water would never be noticed. —Harvey C. Jacobs

 

The story of education

One night, three horsemen were riding across a desert. As they crossed the dry bed of a river, out of the darkness a voice called, "Halt!"

They obeyed. The voice then told them to dismount, pick a handful of pebbles, put them in their pockets and remount.

The voice then said, "you have done as I commanded. Tomorrow at sunrise you will be both glad and sorry." Mystified, the horseman rode on.

When the sun rose, they reached into their pockets and found that a miracle had happened. The pebbles had been transformed into diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones. They remembered the warning. They were glad and sorry—glad that they had taken some and sorry that they had not taken more.

This is the story of education. —Dr Adolfson