The Wretched Hole, Wonderful House Story
By David Sunfellow
Part One: The Wretched Hole
Once upon a time there lived a very poor and lowly peasant. Unskilled, untrained and living in the midst of great poverty, the peasant gathered together what few resources and little talent he had and built himself a house. Though his house was very crude, with teetering walls and a drooping roof, the peasant had cause to be proud because he had built his house as best he could.
It just so happened a knight with more experience, greater ability and, naturally, a better house than the peasant, lived nearby. Eager to become a better builder and knowing knights to be better builders than peasants, the peasant humbly beseeched the knight to critique his house.
Unfortunately, with tastes more refined than the peasant’s, the knight, looking through a knight’s eyes, saw a wretched hole. Greatly perplexed and wishing he hadn’t been asked, the knight, being very honest, reluctantly told the peasant what he saw.
Judging the knight’s eyes far superior to his own, the peasant soon began to view his house as the knight had. Seeing only a wretched hole and believing himself capable of building nothing else, the peasant refused to build anymore. No longer using what few resources and little talent he had, few became fewer and the peasant’s once proud house did indeed become a wretched hole.
Though the knight had built his house a little further up the road it just so happened a bishop, with more experience, greater ability and, naturally, a better house than the knight, lived nearby. Eager to become a better builder and knowing bishops to be better builders than knights, the knight humbly beseeched the bishop to critique his house.
Unfortunately, with tastes more refined than the knight’s, the bishop, looking through a bishop’s eyes, saw a wretched hole. Greatly perplexed and wishing he hadn’t been asked, the bishop, being very honest, reluctantly told the knight what he saw.
And so it went: a lord lived near the bishop, a prince lived near the lord, a king lived near the prince… until the story began again and the peasant met a Sage.
Part Two: The Wonderful House
Once upon a time there lived a very poor and lowly peasant. Unskilled, untrained and living in the midst of great poverty, the peasant gathered together what few resources and little talent he had and built himself a house. Though his house was very crude, with teetering walls and a drooping roof, the peasant had cause to be proud because he had built his house as best he could.
It just so happened a Sage, aware of the peasant’s limited experience and ability lived very, very, VERY nearby. Eager to become a better builder and knowing The Sage to be the best builder of all, the peasant humbly beseeched The Sage to critique his house.
Fortunately, with tastes to match the peasant’s, The Sage, looking through the peasant’s eyes, saw the peasant’s house as the peasant saw it, and told him what a wonderful house it was.
Judging The Sage’s eyes far superior to his own, the peasant soon began to view his house as The Sage had. Seeing only a wonderful house and believing himself capable of building more houses like it, the peasant built and built. Using what few resources and little talent he had, few became more, and the peasant’s house soon became the knight’s.
And so it went: the knight’s house became the bishop’s, the bishop’s became the lord’s, the lord’s became the prince’s, the prince’s became the king’s, until the peasant became The Sage — seeing all houses through the eyes of their builders and knowing all builders are building as best they can.
