There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself & with his position in life.
One day he passed a wealthy merchant’s house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions & important visitors. “How powerful that merchant must be!” thought the stone cutter.
He became very envious & wished that he could be like the merchant. To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries & power than he had ever imagined.
Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants & escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. “How powerful that official is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a high official!” Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared & hated by the people all around.
It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. “How powerful the sun is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the sun!” Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers & laborers.
But a huge black cloud moved between him & the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. “How powerful that storm cloud is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!” Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields & villages, shouted at by everyone.
But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force & realized that it was the wind. “How powerful it is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!” Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared & hated by all below him.
After a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it – a huge, towering rock. “How powerful that rock is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a rock!” Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth.
But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface & felt himself being changed. “What could be more powerful than I, the rock?” he thought. He looked down & saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter chiselling the rock.
Thank You – Paulo Coelho.