THE THIRD STONE

I saw an old story I posted in Japanese (Jan. 19, 2023), but I tried a redraw of the illustration and then decided to post it in English plus added a twist at the end...well, I'll let you see.

Once upon a time (classic beginning), there were three stones in a mountain pass. One came falling off the top. One came rolling around in the stream. The third was spit up from the ground.

The stone from the top was smooth beautiful marble, probably the most dependable substance in the entire pass. It wouldn't crumble even if a Billy goat stood on it.

The golden pebble that rolled up on the creek bed glittered in the sun. It could be just resting, but it looked like it was beaming, smiling. Crows gathered and passed around the shiny rock. My, it sure was pretty.

"Hey! What about me?" a voice sounded from the ground. Oh yes. There was that third stone. Some turtles walked over to where the voice came from. It was still partly covered with dirt.

"You look like me when I come out of hibernation," a turtle said as he began to clean off the mud.

"You and my mound, maybe you're cousins," said a dung beetle nearby. Other insects nearby chuckled.

"B-but this is nothing to laugh about, nothing to laugh about," said Professor Crow, as he stared, wide-eyed at the third stone; "I know shiny things when I see them, and this is no simple shiny thing!"

By this time, the rock was completely clean, and he looked like a crystal! The sun's rays shone softly through the trees, making the stone glisten. Little birds began chattering, trying to see their own reflection.

"This is," the crow continued, "A diamond in the rough!"

Humans know how much money they're worth. Insects don't.

"Does that mean," the dung beetle asked, "they're not cousins, after all?"

END

Our artist crow friend, Ble Curie de Sans, listening to the story, decided to title his next masterpiece: "Diamond in the Rough." It was a painting of the beetle doing a handstand in front of his mound of dung.