A Diamond in the Sty

Once long ago a farmer was out slopping the pigs when he noticed a shiny object bouncing the sun's rays of red, violets and yellows in every direction. The Farmer dropped his bucket of pig slop and slowly moved toward the light. "What have we here?" The Farmer said to himself as he moved closer. The pigs had unearthed a rare 20 carat blue diamond! The Farmer ran into town to tell the people of his good fortune. He told them that this diamond would be worth more than he could ever spend in his entire lifetime and he was willing share his good luck with the town's people. Word passed quickly as the villagers talked about what they would do with all this money they knew would soon be theirs. They talked of new houses, barns, stables, horses and fixing up their place of business. Maybe opening a restaurant. Eager to take a look at the blue diamond, the town's folk trekked out to the Farmer's field to gaze upon their new fortune. They leaned against the rails of the pen and awed as the diamond threw out it's rainbow of lights in every direction. One night, a group of villagers decided that they wanted the diamond for themselves and headed back to farm. Before they could make it to the pig pen, clouds appeared and a major storm stopped them in their tracks. It rained for a solid week and as the dirt turned to soft mud, one of the pigs stepped on the blue rock and sent it below the surface. When the sun finally returned, the diamond was no where in sight. Word passed quickly that the diamond was gone. Throngs of people ran to farm and jumped into the pen, they killed the Farmer's pigs and continued to dig, shove and push one another in hopes of finding the rare blue diamond. After three days with no luck the villagers, hungry and tired returned home. The next day as the mud dried, the Farmer saw the reflection reappear and he knew the diamond had somehow unearthed itself once again. After seeing what the villagers did to his pigs and the pen, he decided to hide his diamond. He moved it to a place he figured the villagers would never look. He placed it in the pig sty. As nasty and dirty as that he said to himself, no one will dig around in there. When the farmer went to town he was constantly questioned if the blue diamond had reappeared. He told them that because of their actions, he has decided that they weren't worthy of the diamond. The villagers asked the Farmer what they could do to obtain his forgiveness so they could get there hands on his money. The Farmer replied that he would come back one day to the village and if the people had changed their greedy ways then he would share the wealth of his blue diamond with them. A week later, the Farmer was met by a small group of villagers who demanded where he had hidden the gem. He refused and was killed. The farm was ransacked and in frustration the villagers returned home without the gem. Soon the town found out that the farmer was missing, hearing this, the killers told the villagers that the farmer had died for the town. They told the villagers that the Farmer was so disappointed in the town's people's actions that he could never give the diamond to them as long as he lived. In his love for the villagers he gave his life in order for the village to prosper. The villagers never found the blue diamond, nor the Farmer's remains. In the meantime, however they wrote songs and told stories of his generosity, greatness, and how he's really not dead and that one day he will return to the village with blue diamond in hand. It never appeared to anyone in the village that the most valuable place in the world looked the worst.