A WOMAN AND HER STONE
A brief story of compassionate generosity.
One day a wise woman was traveling down a path on the side of a mountain. Eventually, the woman came to find a precious stone at the bottom of a stream she was walking in. The next day she met another traveler who was very hungry, at which point the wise woman opened her bag and began sharing her food with the hungry stranger. While eating his food, the traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to please give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler then left, rejoicing in his good fortune, knowing full well that the stone was worth more than enough to give him financial security for a whole lifetime.
A few days later the man came back and returned the stone to the wise woman saying,
“You know I’ve been thinking",
“I know how valuable this stone truly is, but I'll give it back to you in the hopes that you can give me something even more precious in return. Give me whatever you have within yourself that enabled you to give me this stone in the first place. I beg you, please give me what you have within yourself that enabled you to give me this stone, for that is worth more than a thousand stones put together.”
