The hidden truth

 

There was a huge forest with lots of trees and various types of plants. It was the time of the year when flora and fauna flourished in the vast expanse of the forest giving the satiated feeling of plenitude.

Travellers and passers-by frequented the forest as they had plenty to eat from and a river nearby to quench their thirst. One such morning, a sculptor was passing by the forest. He was too tired as he had spent days on foot, travelling from one kingdom to another in search of work. He sat under a tree and soon sleep took over his thoughts and the sculptor was blissfully snoring. After a while he woke up and saw the tree that he was hitherto sleeping under. Soon he started working and chipping away parts of its bark. After a day’s hard work the tree vanished and in its place stood a wise elephant.

Each of see a different truth in things around us. To me the rock looks like a tiny turtle...

The sculptor had so skilfully chiselled away the bark of the tree that it now resembled a majestic elephant. The sculptor wrote his name in the fond hope that any king who came hunting could see his talent and give him a job. Satisfied with his efforts at marketing himself, the sculptor thanked the god of the forests for giving an opportunity to exhibit his skills and went his way.

True to the sculptor’s beliefs the King from a neighbouring kingdom came to the forest the following day and chanced upon the sculptor’s work. The elephant stood out amongst the rest of the trees. He was both amazed and saddened as it was just a couple of days ago that the king had refused work for the sculptor. Soon he sent word through his guards to find the sculptor.

Upon finding the sculptor the king praised his work profusely and also apologised for his ignorance at identifying true talent. The sculptor was pleased and the elephant that he had made had hidden the tree. The whole kingdom spoke of the elephant and how beautiful it was.

A few days later the sculptor went to the forest to have a look at the elephant and see if he could improve it in any manner. As he reached the spot, he saw a wood cutter arranging the barks of a tree that he had cut and tugging at the bundle with all his might. The sculptor could not see his elephant and asked the wood cutter if he had seen the elephant that stood in that spot. The wood cutter replied in the negative. He said he had only seen a very huge tree which had high quality wood for burning and if he sold it in the market it would fetch him a good price. The wood cutter went on describing the quality of the wood and the size of the barks and the price that his loot would fetch him. The sculptor tried explaining that he had sculpted an elephant in the bark of the tree and spread out pieces of the log to find the trunk and tusks of the elephant he had painstakingly sculpted only a few days ago.

He tried telling the wood cutter what he had done. But the wood cutter only saw a tree there and in his opinion there was no elephant. While the king saw the quality of the sculpture, the wood cutter saw the quality of the wood. The elephant hid the tree when the king looked at it and the tree hid the elephant when the wood cutter looked at it.

This is how life hides the truth from us many times. The quality of the person that we are decides what we choose to see in people around us. The truth is always hidden and as we pass life through the various stages, we realise the truth through our own experiences!