There was once a woodcutter who lived in a village on the edge of a great forest. The woodcutter worked day and night but he was very poor.
One day the woodcutter cried out in frustration. “Why am I alone undergoing friction and hard work while others walk in silk and gold?”
As an answer to his prayer an ascetic came near the woodcutter.
The ascetic pulled out a muddy stone the size of a fist from his pouch and gave it to the woodcutter. “This is a rare uncut diamond.”
The woodcutter’s eyes widened in surprise.
The ascetic however, shook his head. “First take this stone to the market and ascertain its true price.” The ascetic smiled at the woodcutter. “Before you sell this diamond, come back and talk to me.”
The woodcutter agreed and he excitedly took the diamond to the village market.
First the woodcutter showed the diamond to a vegetable vendor.
The vegetable vendor looked over the stone. “This is a heavy stone. I will give you two bags of potatoes for this.”
The woodcutter was taken aback.
Then the woodcutter took the stone to a brass merchant.
The brass merchant nodded appreciatively at the stone. “This seems to be a rare stone. I can give you ten copper coins for this.”
The woodcutter refused to sell the stone to the brass merchant too and the woodcutter took the stone to the capital city.
There the woodcutter showed the stone to the royal jeweler.
The royal jeweler removed the mud from the stone and looked into it. The jeweler was taken aback when he saw the stone. “Where did you find this? This is a rare uncut diamond worth a thousand gold coins now.” The jeweler was still breathless. “If this stone was polished by friction, this stone’s worth would not be measurable.” The royal jeweler shook his head. “I do not have enough money in the treasury to buy that polished jewel.”
The woodcutter took the stone back to the forest.
The ascetic was sitting near a fire when the woodcutter found him.
The ascetic smiled because he realized that the woodcutter had understood it. “We are all like this stone. When we are polished our worth is more than a kingdom. However now we judge our worth based on the opinion of the vegetable vendors and the brass merchants. Our hard work removes the dirt and lets our real diamond shine showing our true worth to the world.”
The woodcutter kept the stone but he did not sell it. He kept it in his home and started working hard and since then he never saw his hard work as difficult.
He realized that this hard work was merely a precursor to show his true worth to the world.
Adapted from Indian Folklore
