Once upon a time there lived a stonecutter named Hashnu. He was working beside the highway cutting stone. It was hard work, and the sun shone hot upon him.

Hashnu saw a crowd of people coming up the road. When they drew nearer he noticed that one of them was a King with him are soldiers and ready to do his bidding, seeking to serve him and win his favor.

And Hashnu, watching, thought what a fine thing it would be to be a King, and to have soldiers to do his bidding, and courtiers to serve him, and he said:

Ah me! If one only did not have to work all day. I could sit and rest, and not have to ply this heavy mallet.

Then in a moment Hashnu found that he was no longer the stonecutter, but the King, dressed in armor. But the armor was heavy, and the helmet pressed hard upon his brow, and his head throbbed with the weight of it. He was indeed weary and faint with the heat, because, though a King, the sun beat hot upon him!

Ah me, ah me, If Hashnu only a King. could be.”

At once he heard a voice say: “Be thou the King.”

Now, I’m the King, and yet the sun can make me faint and weary. I had thought that to be a King was to be stronger than anything else, but the sun is stronger than I!

Then he heard a voice say: “Be thou the sun.”And in a moment he was no longer the King, but the sun, shining hot upon the fields and the meadows. As he did not know how to shine, he allowed his rays to fall too fiercely upon the world, and grass and grain were dried up and withered, and men lamented because of the cruelty of the heat.

Ah me, ah me, If Hashnu only the SUN could be!”

But Hashnu thought he was doing great things, and was very proud, until a cloud came between him and the earth, so that his rays no longer fell upon the fields and the cities of men.

Now, I am the sun, and my rays fell upon the fields and the cities, and all acknowledge my power. But the cloud is stronger than the sun, for it shuts off my rays from the earth.

Then, because the cloud would not go, but became heavier and blacker, Hashnu lamented, and said:

Ah me, ah me, If Hashnu only the cloud could be.”

And in a moment he was no longer the sun, but the cloud, pouring rain upon the fields and the meadows, filling the rivers and the streams to overflowing. But he did not know how to let down the rain wisely, and it fell too heavily, and the rivers rose high and destroyed the fields and the cities, and the meadows were turned into swamps, and the grain rotted in the ground, and the wind blew, and trees were uprooted, and houses fell before it.

But Hashnu cared for none of these things, for he thought he was doing very finely indeed. But as he looked down upon the earth he saw that a rock beside the highway stood unmoved and firm, for all of his raining and blowing. He said

Ah me, ah me, If Hashnu only the ROCK could be.

And in a moment he was no longer the cloud, but the rock, fixed and unmoved beside the highway. Now, at last, he felt that he was stronger than all. But even as he rejoiced, he felt the sharp point of a stonecutter’s chisel, and heard the sound of heavy mallet striking upon its head. Then he knew that, though the water had fallen upon the rock and been unable to change it, and the wind had blown hard against it and had no effect, yet would the stonecutter change and alter it, and make it take whatever shape he desired. And he said:

Ah me, ah me, If Hashnu only the stonecutter could be!

And he heard a voice say: “Be thou thyself.”Then Hashnu found himself again sitting beside the highway with a chisel in his hand, and a

mallet on the ground beside him, and the rock before him. And the King had gone by, and the rays of the sun were now shadowed by the cloud, from which no rain fell, but only a grateful shade. And Hashnu said:

The sun was stronger than the King, the cloud was stronger than the sun, the rock was stronger than the cloud, but I, Hashnu, am stronger than all.

And so he worked on, now well content to do each day his added task.