The Pebbles in the Dark

A group of weary nomads was traveling through a pitch-black valley late at night. Suddenly, a mysterious, booming voice echoed from the sky.

"Reach down to the ground, gather as many pebbles as you can carry, and put them in your pockets. If you do this, tomorrow morning you will be both extremely happy and extremely sad."

The nomads were exhausted. Bending down to pick up heavy rocks in the dark seemed like a miserable, pointless chore. Most of them grumbled and ignored the voice. A few, however, reached down and lazily tossed a handful of small pebbles into their pockets just in case.

When morning broke, the nomads reached into their pockets to discard the stones. To their absolute astonishment, the pebbles were not rocks at all. They were flawless, radiant diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.

The voice had spoken the truth. They were extremely happy they had picked up some stones, but they were overwhelmingly sad that they had not bent down and gathered more.