Once upon a time, there were three brothers living in a cabin in the forest. It was a rather pleasant little forest, one of those comfortably black forests which is not quite black enough to contain bandits but quite black enough to contain a fairy tale. The cabin was, likewise pleasant - not too big, not too little, just spacious enough for three brothers to live and work in. Well, not all of them worked, of course.
The eldest brother was a blacksmith, and he worked hard all day to make ploughs and bridles and buckles and knives to sell in town; it did not make him rich, but it did give him enough money to buy food for himself and his brothers. The second eldest brother was a student - he had convinced his elder brother to buy him a Book of Wisdom, and he spent all day studying this book, except when the oldest brother asked him to go fetch a pail of water, or some firewood. The youngest brother, finally, was a poet; he did not quite work as hard as the eldest - indeed, not even as the second eldest. Instead, he spent his days sitting around the cabin, pondering what rhymed with "orange".
One day, which seemed to become a quite ordinary day, the eldest brother woke up to find that he didn't have enough firewood for his smithy. He'd been given a rather large order of one hundred belt-buckles, and he was anxious to get started with his work, so he lunged out of bed, took the last of the firewood and started up the smithy. As soon as the iron had softened ever so slightly he began clanging on it, and he made such a noise that he woke up his brothers even though they slept some distance away from the forge. As soon as he saw them coming, he turned to them and said "Brother scholar, you must go out and fetch for me more firewood, or I shall not get this order finished in time."
But the scholar, who was indeed quite a busy man, replied "I must study to-day, for soon there shall be a Professor travelling through town I hear, and if I impress him enough with my wisdom, perhaps he will teach me though I have no money to pay him. Let Brother Poet go, instead." So Brother Blacksmith turned to Brother Poet, and said to him "Fetch me some firewood, or I shall not get this order finished in time." Brother Poet wanted to object, saying that he had just figured out a good rhyme for "yellow", which wasn't quite the colour he intended but was still better than being stuck on "orange", but Brother Blacksmith did not want to listen, so Brother Poet had to go out in the forest and fetch some firewood, despite his protests.
So, he took a few ambling steps into the forest, and started picking sticks - but as poets' minds do, his mind wandered, and soon he found that he had followed a pretty bird instead of picking up sticks, and not too much later he was lost. In this part of the forest, there was a pretty green meadow surrounded by lush, green forest. As poets very much like pretty places, he sat down to rest for a bit to figure out where he was. As he did so, he saw something glitter in the grass. Picking it up, he found it was a bejeweled bracelet, no doubt one that was once used by a Princess. Delighted, he decided to run back to his brothers to tell them the good news.
After having spent some more time lost in the forest, he returned to his brothers in the after-noon, when they had both taken a pause to drink a cup of hot water (they could not afford tea, you see). Triumphantly, Brother Poet raised the bracelet and displayed it to his brothers. "See what I have found!" he said. The three brothers were very delighted, and embraced him, and kissed him. They let him tell the story of how he had found it, and as soon as he had finished speaking, Brother Blacksmith stood up and spoke.
"It is only right that I should have this bracelet. I have been working to feed you, brother Poet, and you, brother Scholar, since we were but children. If not for me, you would not have food on the table. Clearly, I am the one who should have the bracelet, for my work has been the greatest."
As soon as he had finished speaking, Brother Scholar stood up and spoke. "It is only right that I should have this bracelet.", he said, "The Book of Wisdom says that riches should go to those who have need of it; what's the bracelet to you? Food on the table we have, and poetry doesn't cost a penny. If I have this bracelet, I may sell it, and with the money I can pay a Professor to give me Education. Clearly, I am the one who should have the bracelet, for my need is the greatest."
As soon as he had finished speaking, Brother Poet stood up and spoke. "It is only right that I should have this bracelet.", he said. "Was it not I who found it in the forest? Besides, I am a Poet, and I understand beautiful things; the two of you would merely sell it for money, but I appreciate this bracelet for what it is, not for what it is worth. Clearly, I am the one who should have the bracelet, for my love for it is the greatest."
Which of the brothers should have the bracelet?
7 kommentarer:
I think Brother Scholar should have it. Why?
If he can get a proper education for the money then he can eventually repay Brother Blacksmith and later maybe buy back the bracelet and give it to Brother Poet.
^^
If you apply this kind of reasoning in everyday life, your argument sounds to me something like this: If we help those who need it, they might eventually need help less and less, and eventually pay you back in kind.
Surely a good way to reason, but doesn't this approach make working a bit of a risk? We can only hope people will be kind enough to pay us back for it.
Because they are brothers they will only want what is best for the others right? That's why Brother Blacksmith has taken care of the others for so many years. He probably never expected to be repaid. And giving Brother Scholar the bracelet would give Brother Blacksmith one less mouth to feed, which would benefit him too. I'm not saying that this is the right solution, I just don't agree with Rick's reasoning.
I reasoned this way because they are brothers. Brother scholar would want to repay his brothers simply because he cares. Also Brother scholar is the only one who would be able to do this, in time at least.
If they would have been strangers I'd say that Brother Poet should have the bracelet because he was the one who found it.
The way I see it the Poet should have the bracelet. Since brother Scholar spends all his days studying he will probably be able to impress that professor and he will be able to get an education anyway - just like he said himself. That is especially likely to happen since he does no longer have to fetch firewood and water all day. Why? - because brother Poet is now able to support himself - either because he is smart and sells the bracelet or because its beauty inspires him to write awesome poetry. Therefore brother Blacksmith now only have two mouths to feed - soon only himself - and it is no longer neccessary for him to finish all those beltbuckles in time and in the future he won't need to do as much work.
This is a wonderful test of people's philosophies and I loved reading it just as much as I love reading these answers.
My answer then, shall be quite different. I say they sell the bracelet and split the money three-ways. Brother Blacksmith will be cut some slack, Brother Scholar will be able to buy an extra book to study even harder, and Brother Poet could buy some other, cheeper, pretty object, which, since monetary value is pointless to a poet, would do just as well for him.
No one should have it, as should all.
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