World Folk Tales – The Stonecutter and his Wishes

Once upon a time in Japan, there was a stonecutter who was poor. He lived in a hut and would daily go to the mountains to obtain stones. One day, on his way to the mountain, he saw a big house built very majestically. The house was built exquisitely with the finest stones and the stonecutter wondered to himself as to why he could not have such a house. The stonecutter then went about his job and when sitting below the mountain, he wished, saying that it would be good to have such a house.

A booming voice then filled the air around him. It was the voice of the mountain spirit and it said that his wish would be fulfilled. The stonecutter did not know whether to trust the voice and so after his work, he decided to go home for the day. A huge shocker awaited him as he saw a big palace made out of the finest stones standing in place of his hut. He at once entered his house and began to live, but by next morning, he was unhappy and decided to wish for something more.

The next morning, he went and asked the mountain to make him into a prince with servants by his side. The mountain spirit granted his wish and soon 4 servants lifted him on a palanquin to his home. But once again after some time, the stonecutter looked to the skies and was unhappy and hence he aspired for something greater.

The stonecutter wished to be the sun and he became the sun, but on being blocked by the clouds, he was disappointed. He then wished to be a cloud and hence he became one. After that he saw that even the clouds were cut by tall mountains. So, once again the stonecutter wished and this time, he wanted to be a mountain. His wish was granted and soon, a man came along and started to cut rocks out of him. It was then that he realised that a human was the most powerful and so he wished to be a stonecutter once again. He became a stonecutter once again and since then, he lived happily ever after!

Moral – Discontent is the greatest evil of humans