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| Once upon a time there were two boys living next to each other. One had ten shiny glass marbles, the other had none. Yet, having the marbles (which he considered to be his most valuable possessions) didn't make the first boy happy. On the contrary, quite often he felt very lonely because he had nobody to play marbles with. So, one day he asked the second boy, who had no marbles at all, to play with him. "I will only play with you if you give me one of your marbles," replied the second boy. The first boy wanted to play with somebody so much that he agreed. He gave one of his shiny glass marbles to the boy who had none and they played together all day long. The first boy liked it so much that the next day he asked the second boy if he would like to play with him again. The reply was the same as before - the second boy asked for another marble and after he got it they played again together the whole day. This was repeated on the next day, and the day after that, and so on and so forth, until one day the first boy who used to have ten shiny glass marbles had none any more. The second boy has gotten by now all of them. "Are we going to play tomorrow?" asked the first boy when they finished playing in the evening of the day he's lost the last marble. By now he knew the second boy well enough to anticipate the answer. Yet, he had to ask anyway, hope being always stronger than knowledge. "I don't think so," was the expected reply. "I'm not going to play with you anymore." "But why not!" cried the first boy in desperation. "Haven't I given all my marbles? And haven't you played with me every day? I thought you liked me." "You are a fool," the second boy laughed scornfully at him. "I never liked you. I only played with you because I wanted to get your marbles. And now, that I have all of them and you have none left, you are of no use to me anymore. When you had all the marbles and I had none I used to hate you. But now I just despise you, because you are nothing but a fool." And he walked away leaving behind the first boy who felt now more lonely than ever before - not only he had nobody to play with anymore but he also lost all the marbles, his most valuable possession. P.S. Of course, one can contrive another, more optimistic ending to this rather depressing tale. Let's imagine, for a moment, that what the second boy said wasn't exactly what he felt. That after a while he discovered that he missed the first boy and that the possession of the marbles was not such a great thing if one has nobody to play them with. And that he also began to feel guilty. And so, he went back to the first boy and asked him to play once more. And since then the two boys became the best friends. They always played together and never felt lonely again. And now, after I've given the reader two choices it is up to him to decide which one he likes better. Good bye. |
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