In a small town there lived a
poor man whose family was in dire need.
One day his wife said to him, ‘My husband, how much longer must we
suffer hunger and poverty? Go forth into
the world, as all others do, and try your hand at selling. Maybe the good Lord will help us.’ The husband listened to his wife and did as
she suggested. He gathered up a few articles of the household, sold them, and
with the money bought a sack of onions.
Then he set out on a boat and sailed away.
During the trip a terrible
storm arose and the boat with all its passengers was stranded on a small
island. When the natives of the island
saw the dealer and his sack of onions they were dumbfounded. Never before had they seen such a
vegetable. The man was brought before
the king himself to exhibit his merchandise.
The king ordered that the dealer be reimbursed in a grand manner. The sack was to be filled with gold coins in
place of the onions. Thus the fortunate
man started back to his wife and family.
He was now a very rich man. One day he related the story of how he had
acquired his wealth to one of his most intimate friends, and advised him to go
to the same island. Instead of onions,
he suggested that he take along a sack of garlic. Since there was no such vegetable there he
would be repaid one thousand-fold. He
travelled to the island and was summoned before the king. The king, seeing, the rare vegetable, was
overwhelmed and ordered his servants to compensate him accordingly. So, for the garlics the man was rewarded with
something even more precious than gold coins, onions.
We define valuables by what is rare. Do we define values on the same way? Or do values increase when they are multiplied?
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