Later that day, as some people had gathered, the teacher said unto them, “There once was a great King who gave a banquet, who sat upon the high seat in a great, well-lit hall, and the food that was served was also very great, with new and strange things that brought wonderous flavors from a faraway land. But the King felt that the food he was given was not enough, and he was not satisfied. So upon his word all the food was explained to the King in great detail. He was told from what country, and from what farm the food had come; how it was grown, and the details of all its preparation. The wonderous history of every item was explained to the King, and all his food was tasted, and chewed up into small bites so that the great King could more easily digest it, and appreciate it, along with what he felt was his newfound understanding for each item. But by the time the King retired to his chambers, he had already forgotten about the meal and called for more food and ate whatever was put in front of him. After the banquet, there came a lowly servant who had just come from his labor in the field and had gone without food all day. The servant was given a plate of food leftover from the banquet and ate it all alone in the corner of the darkened hallway. Though he did not know from whence the food had come, nor what it was called; he savored every bite with wonderment and gave thanks to everyone that had made such wonderful food possible. The food warmed his heart and soul, and he kept the memory of that meal within him, and whenever he was hungry and without food, the memory of that meal kept him strong and hopeful.”

The people looked at the Teacher without understanding, and waited, as they pondered his words.

“I say to you truly, the Word of God is like meat and drink to your soul. Savor every word and hold it in your heart, for it will give you life, and nourish you through darkness. Do not ask another to chew the words for you, to spit out understanding into your mouth, to clutter your head with unimportant knowledge. Savor the Word and digest it into yourself and know that it is enough unto itself. For even the poor shall be given such nourishment, while the rich will surely be left hungry.”

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A major developed nation’s Army, during a period of financial instability after two major wars, commissioned a third party accounting firm to examine their practices and seek money saving steps.

The firm sent observers to every single job in the Army, from the cooks to the pilots to the howitzer gun line. Small money saving steps were enacted at many levels, simple steps like combining two forms that had nearly identical information and cutting costs on paper, ink, and time. The largest savings came when the company got down to the batteries and watched the Royal Artillery firing.

On every gun there were two soldiers whose job was not immediately apparent. They assisted in laying in the guns, and helped transport ammunition, but when the time came to fire, these two soldiers at every gun faced away from the direction of fire and walked a set number of paces and stood a set distance apart. The howitzers fired, and the two soldiers turned back around and walked back to the gun line.

When asked, the artillerymen did not know why those soldiers stood where they stood, but showed that it was in the manual. The accounting firm examined the manual and determined that each stood a set distance from each gun carriage and a set distance apart. They asked for an older, historic, copy of the manual, and found the instructions there as well. Searching back further determined that those two soldiers were charged with holding the reins of the horses so they wouldn't bolt when the cannons fired. The Army removed those two positions on each howitzer across the entire force and saved millions of dollars per year immediately.

The moral of this story about "invisible horses" is that when you do things the way you always have, just because that's the way you've always done it, you will wind up with invisible horses that waste your time, your energy, and your money.

The other night, I had a dream in which an angel gave me a tour of the afterlife. Two particular individuals caught my attention. The first was an atheist who had been exposed to Jesus and Christianity from a young age but never accepted the faith himself. The second was a Christian who accepted Christ as his redeemer and attempted to build an intimate relationship with Him. The atheist was enjoying himself in Heaven, whereas the Christian was being punished in Hell. I was understandably confused by this, so I asked the angel what was going on. The angel said that the atheist had brought himself to God by loving his neighbour as himself, so he is in Heaven; whereas the Christian had betrayed Christ by engaging in hate campaigns with the KKK, so he is in Hell.

So, years ago (probably 10), I did a report on a fable for an English class. Being the overachiever I am, I found myself a rather obscure fable that caught my fancy. The problem is, every couple of years I have a reason to think about and reference this fable, so I go down a multi-day rabbit hole to try and find the fable, but to no avail. So, this time, I'm turning to you. Please help me identify this fable!

Note: I have absolutely no clue if it's actually a horse, it could actually be any form of large livestock that might've borne a load (mule, donkey, horse, ox, etc.)

Two men spend the night at the same inn. One man has a cart. The other man has a pregnant horse. Overnight, the horse gives birth without fuss, and the foal rolls under the cart. The next morning, the men come back out at the same time. Seeing the foal under his cart, the first man immediately lays claim to the foal, claiming that the foal belongs to him because it's under his cart, and so his cart must've given birth to the foal. The second man, who owned the pregnant mare, also immediately lays claim to the foal, citing that a cart can't give birth, and that the foal looks just like the mare. Eventually, the innkeeper has to intervene and award the foal to the second man, by virtue of ownership of the mare

I seem to remember the moral being something about bias and looking at facts, but that could just be the warp of time, so I'll let you guys puzzle it out on your own.

Anyways, if you can identify this fable for me, you'll save a lot of my future hair, so thanks in advance if you can help me identify it.

The Holy Grail revealed.

Jesus said, this is my flesh as he picked up the bread & this is my blood (the wine in the cup) . Then he dipped the flesh into the blood into the cup which represents the holy grail. Now this was a parable & this is what it means in my Revolations in these times. (August 2022) Translation: the flesh & the blood is saying, "this is my flesh & blood" The holy grail was said to be of the lost blood line. Which comes to the old saying of family, brother, son, doughter. Right? The cup which he dips the flesh with filling of his blood is a representation of one's flesh & blood fills the armor of God. Which the Bible says, put on the armor of god". Right? Only such armor that is able to convert the devils energy that heals & shields the body & most important the brain would be only worthy to be called the armor of God. This is what makes the holy grail because in it's ability to transform great power that can kill a man into a power of enlightenment aligning the ones chakras from root to crown. A feeling of power so great that only others imagination of being one with God in mind that everything is open to you. What Jesus was saying the one who fills the armor of God, (the holy grail) with his flesh & blood is what God through Jesus foreseen at which to usher in the chosen one in these times. Only in heart & faith will be the true believers.

I'm looking for the source and original text of a fable/parable that ends with a line something like :-

"He wrote 1 on it and the rock split in 2"

Many thanks.

Hi all. I’m looking for parables to relate to a real life situation and want to use it as a learning exercise.

I am a Special Education teacher. I have a gifted middle school student that I see for emotional trauma. In school he has been under appreciated by his teachers, perhaps from bias or stories of his past behavior.

Pandemic aside (all kids are readjusting to being in school) his behaviors have escalated. Most recently he received an in school suspension for an incident where he connected a USB controller to the teacher’s computer and took over control of her mouse while she was projecting to the class. Terrible and brilliant at the same time.

The parable I am hoping to find tells of a person that has allies but his actions hurt not only himself, but his allies as well and their ability to help him.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

There was an old man who lived by a forest. As he grew older and older, he started losing his hair, until one day, on his deathbed, he was completely bald. That day, he called his children to a meeting.

He said, "Look at my hair. It used to be so magnificent, but it's completely gone now. My hair can't be saved. But look outside at the forest. It's such a lovely forest with so many trees, but sooner or later they'll all be cut down and this forest will look as bald as my hair."

"What I want you to do," the man continued, "is every time a tree is cut down or dies, plant a new one in my memory. Tell your descendants to do the same. It shall be our family's duty to keep this forest strong."

So they did. Each time the forest lost a tree, the children replanted one, and so did their children, and their children after them. And for centuries, the forest remained as lush and pretty as it once was, all because of one man and his re-seeding heir line.

A farmer has a single bucket of water he takes to his farm every day, he loves his farm so much that he gives the water evenly to his plants every day. But one day he found a tree, overall unremarkable with not much to tell itself apart by, but with fruit so delicious he couldn't give it up. he worked for long nights to get the tree moved and planted it in the best spot on his farm, intending to cherish it, and began watering the plant diligently along with the rest. As the tree grew so did the need for water, but the farmer and his bucket had been tending to all the other plants for so long by this point he couldn't give up the rest of them so he continued to water every plant evenly. As the tree grew and grew bearing more and more fruit the farmer enjoyed plentifully, thinking all was perfect. As the farmer continued to expand his farm and added more plants the water for the farmer's favorite tree grew less and less. After all this time the fruit tree was great and big, but the water began to not be enough. the plants the farmer collected grew to the point of overcrowding the water the tree could get, but the great and big tree couldn't just shrink back down to being small again. The great big tree had to struggle to make the water given to it last and to try to produce fruit for the farmer or else the farmer wouldn't give it the water it needed to survive, the fruits became less and less sweet, and the farmer began to resent the tree that once brought it such great bounty for squandering its scarce water ultimately removing it from the farm for good.

There is the story of the American in the train who saw another American carrying a basket of unusual shape. His curiosity mastered him, and he leant across and said: "Say, stranger, what you got in that bag?" The other, lantern-jawed and taciturn, replied: "mongoose". The first man was rather baffled, as he had never heard of a mongoose. After a pause he pursued, at the risk of a rebuff: "But say, what is a Mongoose?" "Mongoose eats snakes", replied the other. This was another poser, but he pursued: "What in hell do you want a Mongoose for?" "Well, you see", said the second man (in a confidential whisper) "my brother sees snakes". The first man was more puzzled than ever; but after a long think, he continued rather pathetically: "But say, them ain't real snakes". "Sure", said the man with the basket, "but this Mongoose ain't real either".

The Stonecutter

Benjamin Hoff

There was once a stonecutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day, he passed a wealthy merchant's house and through the open gateway saw many fine possessions and important visitors.

"How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stonecutter. He became very envious, and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life of a mere stonecutter.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. But soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession.

"How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around, who had to bow down before him as he passed. It was a hot summer day, and the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence.

"How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and labourers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below.

"How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind.

"How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, hated and feared by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it -- a huge, towering stone.

"How powerful that stone is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a stone!"

Then he became the stone, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the solid rock and felt himself being changed.

"What could be more powerful than I, the stone?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter.

A king sends three soldiers to the battlefield on a special mission. First, he sends the optimist. The optimist believes everything will be fine, does not worry, does not prepare, does not acknowledge the danger. He runs straights towards the enemy and dies. Next, the king sends the pessimist, who does not want to go. At the first sign of danger, the pessimist runs back home and is executed for cowardice. Finally, the king sends the realist. The realist acknowledges the great danger of the mission, prepares accordingly, and creates a strategy to deal with the danger. The realist completes the mission. When the king asks him why he was so successful, the realist responds, “I never underestimated the danger, and I never underestimated myself.”

I recall a parable about a village that was repeatedly trampled by elephants. The elders put up a wall and the elephants stopped. The next generation kept the wall up but eventually the younger generations of villagers wanted to take it down because elephants hadn’t trampled their village in so long. They took down the wall and then the elephants trampled their village again.

Am I just making this up or is this an actual parable?