The Jewel – A Parable

There was a man who had a beautiful and rare jewel. This gem was so rare that the man knew he wanted to show as many people as possible his beautiful jewel. So he invited his friends and family to come see the magnificent jewel. And they told their friends, and eventually the man knew he couldn’t have all these people coming to his house all the time, so he built a modest gallery for the jewel to live in.

People came from miles around to see this jewel, and once they had seen the jewel they would often return with their friends. But after a while the man started to notice that some of the visitors, whilst appreciating the beautiful gemstone, were a little disappointed at the gallery the jewel was being housed in. The man knew that such a beautiful jewel deserves a beautiful gallery to stay in. So he asked for donations from the visitors to go towards a newer, more impressive gallery.

Well, because the visitors to the gallery wanted to show how much they loved seeing the beautiful jewel, it was no time before the man had a huge amount of money to build a new gallery. He hired the most famous architect in the whole country to build the gallery, and employed the finest tradesmen, giving them the best materials possible. And when the gallery was finally built, it was a fantastic building indeed. Everyone wanted to be at the grand opening, and for days afterwards there was an enormous crowd of people who wanted to look at the beautiful gallery. The amazing gallery, that had been designed by the famous architect and worked on by the finest tradesman, was all over the news. It put the city on the map, and the local politicians would ask to hold their functions in the incredible jewel gallery. And most people who came to see the gallery would give a donation, which went towards making the gallery even more elaborate and beautiful.

One day, while the man was strolling around his beautiful gallery, an old lady came into the gallery, and caught the man’s attention.

“Excuse me sir, but isn’t this the gallery that holds the beautiful jewel?” she enquired.

“Yes, it is a remarkably beautiful gallery for the jewel, isn’t it”, the man replied unthinkingly.

“Yes, um, well. I was wondering where it is?”

“where what is, madam?” he queried, a little uncertainly.

“The beautiful jewel”

The man looked around, but he had no idea where the beautiful jewel was at all.