The Parable of the Marbles
Once upon a time, there was a foolish boy who had a bag full of beautiful
Well, there was also a wise boy who wished he could have such a fine bag of
Alas, the foolish boy with all of the marbles didn’t take care of the
It didn’t take long, once the foolish boy’s marble bag developed a hole,
And what about the foolish boy? Because he was selfish and careless, he
marbles. Now this boy was quite proud of his marbles. In fact, he thought
so
much of them that he would neither play with them himself nor would he let
anyone else play with them. He only took them out of the bag in order to
count and admire them; they were never used for their intended purpose. Yet
that boy carried that coveted bag of marbles everywhere he went.
marbles. So this boy worked hard and earned money to purchase a nice bag to
hold marbles. Even though he had not yet earned enough with which to
purchase any marbles, he had faith and purchased the marble bag. He took
special care of the bag and dreamed of the day it would contain marbles
with
which he could play and share with his friends.
marble
bag itself, and one day the bag developed a hole in the bottom seam. Still,
he paid no attention and, one by one, the marbles fell out of the bag.
for
the wise boy to begin to find those beautiful marbles, one at a time, lying
unnoticed on the ground. And, one by one, he added them to his marble bag.
The wise boy thus gained a fine bag full of marbles in no time at all. This
boy played with the marbles and shared them with all of his friends. And he
always took special care of the bag so he wouldn’t lose any.
lost
all of his marbles and was left holding the bag.
