Parable of the Well

Once in the long ago days when the world was still young, two women stood on a plain, looking out at an old well in the distance.

“I will go and get the water I need first, and then you will get the water that you need. Isn’t it wonderful that we both get to drink from the same well?”

The other woman, a tall, fair-haired woman with a kind face, agreed wholeheartedly.

“Yes, we really are two very lucky people. Now, you go and fetch your water, and I will wait here. And when you are finished, I will fetch the water that I need. And then we may both return home.”

So the first woman went to the well, and she put down her bucket, and she began to draw the water up. The water was clean and pure, and sparkled in the sun. She quickly returned to her friend, who said, “Now I will fill up my bucket, and we may both return home by the same path. And the day will end merrily for us, as we both have fresh water to drink.”

So the woman went to the well, and sent down the bucket, and cranked the wooden handle until the bucket came back up, full and dripping from the mouth of the well.

But when she looked into the bucket, she was met with a grim surprise. The water that she had retrieved from the well was not pure, but dirty; floating with the remains of dead birds and small rodents, and black and brackish with mud and filth.

The woman dropped the bucket in wonder, and cried with anguish, “Oh, whatever shall I do now? My husband will surely be angry when I return home with no clean water, and we will both go thirsty tonight.”

She suddenly turned to her friend across the field, and exclaimed, “How is it that you were able to pull up a bucket of clean water, and I am only to pull up a bucket of filth? This isn’t fair!”

But she was surprised to find that she was all alone, her voice echoing out across the empty field as the wind began to blow.

No copyright.

–Tom Baker