THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER NE who herds cattle in early spring often ONE sees a leader of the herd raise her head, look for a moment, then start eagerly for the green pastures in the distance. When she comes to the spot that looked so green, that spot appears bare and brown and she roams off to other fields which in turn appear green. Finally, she tires of roaming and decides to pasture where she is. In a sense, we people are like cattle. The things farthest from us seem most attractive. The poet Shelley has summed up this feeling of longing and discontent in the words: "We look before and after And sigh for what is not." The following story is told by Japanese parents to their children to get the children to profit by the experience of others and to get each to do his best work in the spirit of contentment. The story is good, not only for Japanese children, but for all children who read it until they see its meaning. THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER There was once a man who worked from early morning till late at night cutting building stones out of solid rock. His pay was small and hardly enough to keep his wife and children from starving. So the poor stonecutter grew discontented and sighed and moaned bitterly over his hard lot. One day, when his work seemed harder than usual and his troubles more than he could bear, he cried out in despair: 1 "Oh, I wish I could be rich and lie at ease on a soft couch with a curtain of red silk!" Just then a beautiful angel floated down from heaven, and said softly, "Thy wish is granted thee." At once the poor stonecutter found himself rich and powerful and resting easily on his silken couch with its red curtain. As he gazed out, however, he saw the king of the country ride by with many horsemen before and behind him, and with a great golden sunshade held over his head. It irritated the rich man to have no parasol over his head and to see another more powerful than himself, and in his discontentment he exclaimed, "Would that I were a king such as that one!" Again his guardian angel appeared, waved his wand, and said, "It shall be as thou desirest." Immediately the man was a king, and before him and behind him rode his men-at-arms, and over his head was a golden sunshade. But elsewhere the sun shone fiercely down and dried up the vegetation with its terrible heat. It was reflected into the face of the king so that even the golden sunshade did not keep him from suffering. Once more he sighed discontentedly, "If I could only be the sun!" Almost before he spoke he found himself to be the sun, and he began joyously to send his fiery rays above, below, and everywhere round about him. He scorched the grass of the earth, and burned the faces of its rulers and felt his power unlimited until a little cloud placed itself between him and the earth and threw back his scorching rays. It still angered him to find something more powerful than himself, and he wished aloud that he might be the cloud. Again his wish was granted, and he found himself floating where he wished through the sky. He ran between the sun and the earth and sheltered the latter so that the grass grew green, the trees leaved out again, and everything rejoiced in a new growth. Then he sent great floods of rain upon the earth, filled the rivers till they overflowed, swept homes and herds into the sea, and destroyed the works of man in every direction. But try as he would, he could not move one great rock that stood right across his way. Though he sent waters that roared around its base and pushed hard against it, yet it remained immovable. Such a failure angered the man-cloud, and again he cried out, "Would that I were a rock, so strong and immovable is it!" This time, also, his guardian angel interfered, and he found himself a rock that withstood the sun, the wind, and the waters. But one day there came along a rude stonecutter, who with chisel and heavy hammer began to cut the great rock into small, regular building stones. "What does this mean?" cried the rock. "Has this man power to cut me in pieces? Surely I am weaker than he! Would I were a stonecutter!" "As thou wishest, so shall it be," said his guardian angel, and immediately he was again a stonecutter, working hard as before and for small wages, but happy and contented with his lot.- Bayard Taylor, from the Japanese. NOTES 1. If possible, visit a stonecutter, get pictures of one at work, or have some one who has seen a stonecutter tell about his work. 2. Tell incidents which show that people think their own work is not so good as other work. 3. Tell of tasks children dislike but which they later find to be best for them. 4 Articulation drills. Drill in clear, distinct, correct pronunciation of the following: solid, bitterly, angel, desirest, golden, sunshade, earth, the grass grew green, rude, chisel, wishest, discontented. 5. Pronounce the following words correctly and give their meanings as here used: discontented, moaned, bitterly, despair, gazed, irritated, parasol, guardian, men-at-arms, joyously, fiery, unlimited, rejoiced, immovable, interfered, vegetation, angered, rude. EXERCISES 1. Why did the stonecutter grow discontented? 2. What wish did he express? 3. What then happened to him? 4. Why was he still discontented? 5. What next wish of his was granted? 6. What now seemed to him greater than a king? 7. What was his next wish? 8. What did he do as sun? 9. Why did it anger him to find something more powerful than himself? 10. What next wish was granted? 11. What could the cloud not do? 12. What next wish came true? 13. What seemed stronger than a rock? 14. What was his next wish? 15. Why was he now contented and happy as a stonecutter? ADDITIONAL READINGS LONGFELLOW: The Builders. TAYLOR: The Discontented Pendulum. GOULD: The Pebble and the Acorn. ANDERSEN: The Discontented Fir Tree. The Ugly Duckling. JEWETT: Discontent. THE CLOUD I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shade for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under; And then again I dissolve it in rain, - Percy Bysshe Shelley. |