Stone Story




A wise woman traveling in the mountains found a precious stone glittering in a stream.

Soon she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her meager food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth a lifetime of security.

But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, “What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish? I cannot sleep until I have the real treasure. I humbly return this and beg of you. Share with me what magic you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

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Stone Story is a bit of prose written as a prompt from the magic scribes over at DVerse, meant to include this line from T.S. Eliots poem The Wasteland

“What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?”




©2021 Christopher Reilley 

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Comments

  1. I love this. It's like a parable, and it teaches as well as entertains. Native Americans are like this. If you admire their shirt, they take it off and give it to you.

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  2. It is a sort of parable. I like how he discovered his conscience and returned.

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  3. A h yes.....true generosity is indeed a magical asset that few possess.

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  4. I like this. :) and I agree with the previous comments

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  5. Christopher, your story has a much better outcome that what I feared was going to happen. A beautiful parable indeed.

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  6. So much wisdom in this awesome told tale. A gift received but wisdom the lure of the meeting, thus the return.
    Nice one

    Thanks for dropping by to read mine

    Much💜love

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  7. The ending was a nice surprise and a reminder of what we should treasure!

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  8. I love the unexpected path that this tale took me on! Words of enlightenment.

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  9. great use of the prompt. this tale is a gift to your readers

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  10. You are a wise, wise man, Chris.

    I loved this.

    -David [ben Alexander]

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  11. This reads like those wise stories... to have the ability to give is indeed a gift, and the traveller found that accepting a gift is also a burden

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