Aesop and the Writer
Once upon a time, in an old Aegean town hidden in the shade of the redbud trees, there lived a man named Aesop, known for his wisdom. People often visited his humble hut to have deep conversations and to receive precious advice. One day a proud man who believed himself a great writer arrived with thick rolls of paper in his bag. The writer wanted to read the very long story he had worked on for days to the wise man and win his admiration. Aesop was sitting under the olive tree in his garden and greeted this curious guest with a smile. Without wasting any time, the writer began to read aloud his text full of ornate words. As the hours passed the sun climbed high, but the endless story began to test the wise man's patience.
In the text there was neither a deep meaning nor a beautiful idea that gave peace to the listener. The young man often stopped and asked, “Well, my wise friend, is my style not wonderful?” Aesop kept listening, nodding his head patiently, and kept his eyes on the blue sky. At last the writer finished the hundreds of pages he had written with great effort and was filled with pride. He boasted, “I am sure you have never heard such a long and magnificent work before.” Then he came closer to the wise man and asked, “Now tell me, what is missing in this enormous tale of mine?” Aesop took a deep breath, stood up and gently cleared his dry throat.
He looked into the writer's excited eyes, smiled and began to speak in a calm voice. “The story you wrote is truly very long, and you read it without getting tired,” said the wise Aesop. “But you have forgotten that empty ears of grain hold their necks upright, yet not a single grain of wheat is found inside them.” “Your text has tons of ornate words, but not one true meaning that touches the heart.” The proud writer did not know what to say to these words and hid his papers in his bag with shame. The value of a word is not in its length, but in the depth of the wisdom it carries. There are words that only pass by, and words that pierce the heart.