The Stonecutter

The Humble Stonecutter

Long ago, in the green hills of Japan, there lived a stonecutter. Every day he walked to the foot of a great mountain, and with his hammer and chisel he cut blocks of stone from the rock. People bought his stone to build their houses and temples, and though he was poor, he had enough to eat and a small house to call his own.

For many years the stonecutter was content. But high in that mountain lived a spirit, and the spirit had taken notice of the hardworking man.

The First Wish

One hot afternoon, the stonecutter carried a block of stone to the house of a wealthy prince. Through the gate he saw cool gardens, soft silk cushions, and servants bringing dishes of fine food.

"How wonderful it would be to be rich like that," the stonecutter sighed. "Then I would never have to swing a hammer in the sun again."

A voice answered from the mountain. "Your wish is granted."

When the stonecutter walked home, he found his little house had become a grand mansion, and he himself was a rich man, dressed in fine robes, with servants of his own. He laughed with delight and thought he would surely be happy now.

Higher and Higher

But one summer day, a great procession passed by. It was a mighty prince, carried under a golden umbrella so the sun could not touch him, while everyone else — even the rich stonecutter — had to bow low in the dust.

"How much greater a prince is than I!" he thought. "I wish I were a prince."

"Your wish is granted," said the voice of the mountain.

And so he became a prince, carried in a golden chair beneath a silk umbrella. But the sun still beat down fiercely upon the land. It burned the grass brown and cracked the earth, no matter how the prince ordered it to stop. Even his golden umbrella could not keep out all the heat.

"The sun is mightier than any prince," he decided. "I wish to be the sun."

"Your wish is granted."

The Sun, the Cloud, and the Mountain

Now the stonecutter blazed in the sky as the sun. He poured his heat upon the fields and the rivers, proud to be the most powerful thing of all. But one day a great cloud rolled in front of him, and his rays could not pass through it at all.

"The cloud is stronger than the sun," he said. "I wish to be the cloud."

"Your wish is granted."

As the cloud, he sent down rain until the rivers flooded and the fields were washed away. He felt very mighty — until he noticed one thing that did not move, no matter how hard the rain fell or the wind blew. It was the great mountain, standing firm and unshaken.

"The mountain is stronger than the cloud," he said. "I wish to be the mountain."

"Your wish is granted."

Back to Himself

At last the stonecutter was the mighty mountain. The sun could not burn him, the rain could not move him, and the wind could not bend him. "Now," he thought, "I am surely the most powerful thing in all the world."

But one morning he felt a small, sharp tapping at his base. Tap. Tap. Tap. Little by little, a piece of him broke away and tumbled down the slope. He looked down to see what tiny creature could chip away a whole mountain — and there at his foot stood a man with a hammer and chisel.

It was a stonecutter.

The mountain understood at last. Even a poor stonecutter, with only his hands and his tools, held a power that could wear away a mountain itself. There was no single "strongest" thing in all the world. Everything had its own place, its own strength, and its own worth.

"I have been foolish," he said. "I wish to be a stonecutter once more."

"Your wish is granted," said the spirit of the mountain, and there was a smile in the voice.

In a moment the stonecutter was himself again — an ordinary man at the foot of the mountain, with his hammer in his hand. And from that day on he cut his stone happily, never wishing to be anything other than what he was. For he had learned that he had been someone worthy all along.

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The moral: If you spend your life wishing to be someone else, you will never be content. True happiness comes from valuing who you are and being grateful for what you have.

Want more world folktales? Try Momotaro the Peach Boy or The North Wind and the Sun next.