High in the mountains was a gem mine, owned collectively by several villages in the region. The mine was worked by a single man who, twice a year, would travel from village to village, distributing the precious stones that he had worked from the earth.
Mining was hard and the spoils were small, but they were consistent and the villagers seemed satisfied with the one or two precious stones that the miner brought them each year. Indeed, seeing the joy on their faces was one of the things that gave the miner the most pleasure.
Mining was lonely work, however, and with just his own thoughts for company, the miner began to think.
“I labour long and hard for the whole year, yet all I ever have to show for my work is a handful of gems. The villagers seem content, but I wonder if they really are.”
As he worked the rocks, his mind began its own work.
“I work as hard as I can, and bring them all that I am able, but it does not seem that much to me. Surely it must be disappointing for the villagers, to have to wait so long for so little. They smile to my face, but I wonder what they say behind my back.”
The gems came slowly; the questions much quicker.
“How must it look to the villagers? Do they question my work ethic and the value of their investment? Do they moan about how little I bring them? Are they already planning to replace me?”
These doubts tormented the miner, until he at last came up with a plan.
“The next time I visit the villages I will not take my small pouch of gems, instead I will take a large sack. Although I will not have more jewels than usual, I can load the sack with rocks. Thus will the villagers see the heavy sack and assume that I have worked hard and fruitfully all year. That should quiet their doubts.”
So this is what the miner did. If the villagers ever wondered why the miner appeared to be carrying a huge sack of gems and yet they still only received the same one or two stones a year, they never asked. And the miner, who had once enjoyed his visits and taken pleasure from bringing his gifts, began to dread the journey, because he now had to carry a heavy sack of rocks everywhere he went.
And so the miner was miserable, and the people of the villages no richer.
