What is precious?

Food for thought… or for soul…

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains
found a precious stone in a stream.

The next day she met another traveler who was hungry,
and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveler saw the precious stone
and asked the woman to give it to him.
She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune.
He knew the stone was worth enough
to give him security for a lifetime.

But a few days later he came back
to return the stone to the wise woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said,
“I know how valuable the stone is,
but I give it back in the hope that
you can give me something even more precious:
Give me what you have within you
that enabled you to give me the stone.”