Whoever we are, it can take us a very long time to value ourselves properly.
There once lived a stonecutter who was unhappy with himself and with his place in society.
One day, passing by the house of a wealthy merchant, he happened to look through the open door and saw many beautiful things inside, as well as honored guests. The stonecutter envied the merchant’s power and wealth and thought how wonderful it would be if he too were a merchant. Then he would no longer have to endure the miserable life of a stonecutter.
To his great surprise, he immediately turned into a merchant with wealth and power beyond anything he had ever imagined. Many poorer people envied him and hated him. But one day an important official was carried past his house in a palanquin, accompanied by a grand procession and soldiers beating a gong. All the townspeople, no matter how rich, had to bow respectfully before the procession. “Now that is real power,” thought the former stonecutter. “I want to be an important official too!”
And so he became an important official, carried in an embroidered palanquin, while everyone around him bowed, feared him, and hated him. Then came a scorching hot day, and the official felt miserable inside the stuffy, dusty palanquin. He looked up at the sun, blazing proudly in the sky and paying not the slightest attention to him. “Now that is real power,” he thought. “I want to be the sun!”
And he became the sun, shining mercilessly down upon the earth and scorching the fields. All the peasants and laborers cursed him. But suddenly a great black cloud covered the earth from him, and his rays could not break through it. “Now that is real power,” he thought. “I want to be the cloud!”
And he became a cloud, pouring rain and flooding fields and villages. Again everyone hurled curses at him. But then he felt some force pushing him aside. It was the wind. “Now that is real power,” he thought. “I want to be the wind!”
And he became the wind, tearing tiles from roofs and ripping trees out by the roots. People hated him and hid from him. But soon he ran into something that would not yield to him no matter how hard he blew. It was a huge stone, an entire cliff. “Now that is real power,” he thought. “I want to be the rock!”
And he became a mighty rock, the strongest thing in the world. But after some time he heard the sound of a hammer driving a chisel into the body of the rock, and he felt something within him begin to change. “Who can possibly be stronger than I am?” he wondered. Looking down, he saw the figure of a stonecutter at his foot.