A Diamond, which some one had lost, lay for some time on the high road.
At last it happened that a merchant picked it up. By him it was
offered to the king, who bought it, had it set in gold, and made it one
of the ornaments of the royal crown. Having heard of this, a Pebble
began to make a fuss. The brilliant fate of the Diamond fascinated it;
and, one day, seeing a Moujik passing, it besought him thus:
"Do me a kindness, fellow-countryman, and take me with you to the
capital. Why should I go on suffering here in rain and mud, while our
Diamond is, men say, in honour there? I don't understand why it has
been treated with such respect. Side by side with me here it lay so
many years; it is just such a stone as I am--my close companion. Do
take me! How can one tell? If I am seen there, I too, perhaps, may be
found worthy of being turned to account."
The Moujik took the stone into his lumbering cart, and conveyed it to
the city. Our stone tumbled into the cart, thinking that it would soon
be sitting by the side of the Diamond. But a quite different fate
befell it. It really was turned to account, but only to mend a hole in
the road.