The Human and the Rock.

When God had made the Earth, He had commanded the matter to take on new forms. Thus spread upon the Earth’s skin, and within her flesh, were countless entities. They began to learn of their natures.

‘I am green and beautiful,’ said the Plant. ‘I will flower and adorn any space which I occupy. I will grow into a mighty tree and my history will be preserved into the rings of my flesh. Many animals, big and small, will seek my shade. They will feed off my foliage, breath my air, and respect my presence.’ The Plant was pleased to know of its form.

‘I can float above all, and go anywhere I so choose’ rumbled the Cloud. In excitement, he fluffed up. ‘I have the freedom to take on any shape. I will be the offspring of mighty rivers and vast oceans. I will spread their messages to the remotest of lands and give life to all, even the trees.’ The Cloud was happy to learn of itself.

Then spoke the Animal: ‘I am the most exciting form of all. I can derive pleasure from the fruits of a tree, the milk from within its stem and drink from the clouds. My colours will make shy even the rainbow. I will swim in the seas and run on land. I will feel the mist of clouds on my face and on my feathers. And I shall soar even higher.’ With that the Animal jumped, slithered and trotted off.

Then spoke Water, then Fire, then Bacteria, then Air, then Coral, then Metal, then Flower, then Diamond, then Moss. One by one, they all learnt of their new forms and were pleased.

There was one final object that was yet to proclaim its purpose. All the entities looked embarrassingly towards its ugly brown exterior.

The Rock.

‘What’s his purpose?’ whispered the Wind.

‘Can he be eaten?’ asked the Animal.

‘Does it give life?’ The Tree wanted to know.

‘Just what exactly are you?’ asked Ice?

The Rock was a little embarrassed to know that he was not as colourful as the animals, as light as the clouds, as cool as ice, or as life-giving as the trees. But he quickly regained his confidence.

‘I am the Rock,’ he said calmly.

A momentary silence, then they all burst out laughing. The Wind howled, the Cloud was in tears, the Tree shook and the Animal wet himself. And so began the mocking of the Rock: a small, ugly object.

‘Why don’t you try to be more like us,’ they all said in unison. ‘Ask God to change you into another form.’

‘I am a rock.’ said the little object calmly. ‘I am who I am. I will not change myself to imitate others.’

‘But aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You are useless and unattractive; what can you do?’

‘God did not abandon me,’ said the Rock with a stony conviction. ‘I also have a purpose.’

It just so happens that something similar was happening in the heavens. God had just finished making a creature from an impure substance, and named him Human. This Human was, to the astonishment of God’s other creations, His favourite.

When The Almighty decided to gift Earth to the Human, all heavenly creations came out protesting.

‘We are made of energy but his substance is of dirty clay,’ objected the Angel and the Devil. ‘We came first.’

‘I am pure,’ said the enlightened Angel.

‘And I am powerful,’ protested the fiery Devil.

I know,’ God said majestically, ‘what you know not.’

But the two continued protesting over the superiority of their younger sibling. Displeased with the bickering, The-One ordered the three to stand before Him:

‘Choose from my Earth any one object or entity,’ commanded God, ‘and try living on her soil for just one day.’

The Angel was the first to go. He was in awe of the lake waters which glistened and reflected the light from his form. Trees leant towards him, animals walked behind him and the leaves greened upon his presence.

He saw a small shiny object on the ground and was attracted to its sparkle. He picked up the article - a diamond – and sat admiring its beauty. For many hours, he contemplated its order, its sharp edges and its purity and its light. Something of the diamond had reminded the Angel of himself.

But then evening fell and the winged being began to weaken. He gazed for another source of light but to no avail. He looked at the diamond and it too had lost its lustre. It was just a smooth dull item. As night arrived, the Angel became so weak that he knew he could no longer stay. He conceded defeat and ascended heavenwards.

Next it was the turn of the Devil. He marched downwards and looked down upon all entities. The sun and the heat had made a small patch of grassy land so dry that it had caught fire. The Devil paced eagerly towards the event. Something within the rebellious flames had attracted him. So he chose fire.

Blinded by its attraction, the Devil wanted to test his power. He directed the fire towards a lake whose water evaporated and rose up. This is what my substance is made of, he thought proudly.

He continued pouring fire into water until the entire lake had dried. The red mortal swaggered proudly into the centre of the lake bed, as if to say he ruled this land. Evening had arrived and unlike the Angel, the Devil had not weakened.

But then something rumbled menacingly. The Devil looked up. His jaw fell. A giant grey cloud was directly above him – a vengeful cloud formed from the waters of the lake he had previously dried.

The Devil was too arrogant to admit he had made a mistake. He refused to move. A rain drop fell from the skies and sizzled onto his cheek. He remained still. Another few landed onto his shoulders. He winced but did not budge. But soon, the cloud was exacting full vengeance. The pain from the water became so intense that he could no longer bear to stay on this ground. The lake was restored, and the Devil, humiliated, left the land.

Now it was the turn of the Human.

They all waited for the new creature to fail miserably. The heavenly creations looked down upon the new creature. The earth forms, having already defeated the Angel and the Devil, thought themselves to be unconquerable.

The Human looked uneasily at his new surroundings. There were many strange and wonderful things on this land. He looked up in awe at the clouds. He ran his rough, dirty hands through the bark. He stroked the wings of a butterfly before it fluttered by.

Soon he experienced his first pangs of hunger. The Angel and the Devil had never needed food, yet they had failed. His time would be over soon, thought the Angel.
The Human continued to observe. In the distance was a fleshy herbivore. Near him was a tree full of leaves. Finally, he saw an object lying on the ground. His eyes narrowed.

All the creations observed closely. What was the clay animal going to do?

He picked up the Rock and gave it a sniff - the same dull Rock, which had been mocked by the trees and the clouds and the animals for being insignificant and unattractive.

The Angel smirked but the Devil could not hold back.

‘He’s going to eat the Rock,’ he laughed out loud! ‘This Human doesn’t even know what to eat.’

Everyone roared in amusement. Even on Earth all forms, except the Rock, had a good chuckle at the Human’s stupidity.

‘So where are his superpowers?’ laughed Animal.

‘A dull rock and a dull human,’ giggled Flower.

‘They deserve each other,’ blew the Wind.

But just then, the human pulled back his arm with lightening speed. The creations were still laughing when in a display of tremendous momentum, his arm came forward. The rock left his hand with such velocity that when it hit the grass-eater’s head, it could never recover. The animal died instantly.

There was silence across the universe.

Finally, an embarrassed Angel murmured: ‘Yes, we know he can shed blood, but how will he eat its flesh?’

The Human walked over to the dead animal. Realising that the prey had a thick hide, he had needed something sharp to cut him up. He saw that the rock with which he had killed the animal had a sharp edge. The Human, clutching the bloody tool, began slicing into the beast. The angel was silenced.

Once exposed and cut up, the human realised the flesh to be too raw for his consumption.

But he had seen something of his substance in the rock: rejected, ridiculed and dirty, yet holding inside an amazing potential if only he believed in himself. He decided to give this object another chance.

The Tree said: ‘His weak stomach will only accept a cooked meal. But how will he cook his meat when he doesn’t have any fuel?’

The green giant had spoken too soon. The human walked towards the Tree and using the same sharp edge of the same rock, began chipping away. Soon he had collected a large mass of wood and bark.

‘So he can kill and he can cut things,’ said the Devil haughtily. ‘But he needs fire to burn the wood in the first place. And only I can control fire.’

The Devil’s arrogance was short-lived. Before long, the human was hitting two rocks against each other. Sparks flied and soon a flame was born.

One by one, the Human silenced all his critics. The Cloud, the Wind and the Tree were the first to accept that they had underestimated this new creature and the Rock. In welcoming their guest, the tree released a few fruits off its branch. The wind blew tenderly and the clouds released the gentlest of rain.

That night, under the canvas of a starry black sky, the lone human enjoyed a deliciously roasted leg and sweetened his mouth with the fruits. He never let go of the small dull companion in whom he had found his nature.

That’s how it all started. The man was to remain on Earth for more than one day. His children were to spend hundreds of thousands more. Every generation passed the small Rock onto the next – to remind themselves that weak as they were, they would never stop believing in their abilities.

The Rock, in the hands of the Human, had been exalted. And the Human had found one great purpose after another in his companion. Every time its potential was unleashed, the Human learnt something new of his own nature; of his savagery, his power, his weakness, his protective nature, his stubbornness, and his beauty.

The children of the first human were to stack rocks and make pyramids. They learnt that great societies could only be built through unity. Others carved out sculptures; they understood that every human had within him the potential to radiate beauty. One man pushed the rock to its limits. He heated the object until it melted. Yet, to his astonishment, it yielded pure metal – stronger than the rock itself! And here was another lesson for the humans: great character could only come about after much suffering.

The humans had learnt so much of themselves - the good and the bad - yet not known of their ultimate nature. One curious human thought he had the answer. The soul of the human, he thought, lay in the heart of the first rock that the very first human had held.

With great effort he began to wear away the item. One by one he removed the layers until, with tremendous power, he split the rock into two. His eyes widened in astonishment for he knew he had found the soul of humanity.

At the heart of the old ridiculed rock lay a lustrous diamond, a thousand times more brilliant than the stone the angel had once held.