Page 29 - Moral Stories Vol 1

There was a blacksmith who once complained, “I am not well and all the time I am working in the heat. I want to be a stone on the mountain. It must be cool there for the wind blows and the trees give shade.
A wise man who had power over all things heard the blacksmith and replied, “Go be a stone”. And the blacksmith became a stone, high up on the mountainside.
Now it so happened that a stone-cutter came that way for a stone and when he saw the one that had been the blacksmith, he knew that it was what he sought, and began to cut it.
The stone cried out, “This hurts! I no longer want to be a stone. A stone-cutter, I want to be. That would be pleasant”.
Now the wise man, humoring him said, “Be a cutter”. Thus he became a stone cutter, and as he went seeking suitable stone, he grew tired, and his feet were sore. He whimpered, “I no longer want to cut stone. I would be the sun; that would be pleasant”. The wise man commanded, “Be the sun”. And he became the sun.
But the sun was warmer than the blacksmith, the stone and the stone-cutter. Now again he complained, “I do not like this. I would love to be the moon. It looks cool”. The wise man spoke yet again, “Be the moon”.
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