Long ago and far away, a young boy carried a heavy load from the market, there, his father traded vegetables for meat, and other family necessities.
\n\u201cMind you go straight home now,\u201d his father commanded, \u201cand don\u2019t go near the well.\u201d
\nHowever, the day being hot and dusty, the boy ignored his father\u2019s instruction, a cool drink at the village well was all he could think of.
\nSurrounding the well were a number of drinking troughs for the animals, some of which were being filled by people who owned cattle and camels.
\nLooking around, the boy saw a very dry trough at which stood a solitary camel, looking most thirsty.
\nDrawing the bucket out of the well, the boy cupped and drank the cool refreshing water.
\n\u201cI see you are carrying a heavy load,\u201d came a nearby voice, it was the camel.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered the boy, \u201cand I am still a long way from home.\u201d
\n\u201cI will make a deal with you, if you like,\u201d offered the camel, \u201cif you will draw water from the well for me, I will carry your load home for you, when I am finished.\u201d
\nThe boy thought this was a fine trade, and quickly lowered the bucket into the well, drew it out, and poured the water into the trough.
\n\u201cThank you,\u201d replied the camel, and quickly drank all the water. \u201cI\u2019m still thirsty,\u201d the camel said to the boy, \u201ccould I have some more water please?\u201d
\nAgain, the boy lowered the bucket, hauled it to the top of the well and poured it into the trough.
\n\u201cThank you again,\u201d said the camel, and in almost no time at all, the water was gone.
\n\u201cOne more please,\u201d the camel asked, and now, the boy looking at the empty trough, took the bucket, lowered it into the well and now, a little slower, drew out the water and poured it out for the camel.
\n\u201cWill you be done soon?\u201d the boy asked, \u201cI have to get home.\u201d
\n\u201cNot long I hope,\u201d replied the camel, who had already drunk all the water the boy had poured into the trough.
\nThey looked at each other, the boy knew the camel would keep drinking, and if he did not get the goods home soon, he would be punished.
\n\u201cWill you take my load home now?\u201d the boy asked hopefully.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not quite done yet,\u201d replied the camel, \u201ccould I have some more please?\u201d
\n\u201cOne more and that is all!\u201d the boy was cross at the camel for drinking so much.
\n\u201cBut that is not our agreement,\u201d replied the camel.
\nAt last, after the next bucket of water was dragged from the well, the boy was exhausted.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t lift anymore,\u201d he said to the camel.
\n\u201cThen we don\u2019t have a deal do we,\u201d counselled the camel.
\nSadly, the boy knew he had to go home, and the camel was not ready to leave.
\nIt was getting dark, and with one last look at that thirsty camel, he picked up his load and trudged off home, where he would face his father\u2019s anger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long ago and far away, a young boy carried a heavy load from the market, there, his father traded vegetables for meat, and other family necessities. \u201cMind you go straight home now,\u201d his father commanded, \u201cand don\u2019t go near the well.\u201d However, the day being hot and dusty, the boy ignored his father\u2019s instruction, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palAbp-R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/2018\/04\/05\/on-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":0},"title":"Living off the Grid","author":"Rob","date":"April 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Long ago and far away, well, that\u2019s what they would have you believe, lived and man and his son, alone in a small stone cottage. One day, the father asked the boy to go and collect some kindling for this evening's meal. The father, as best he could, made a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28,"url":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/2018\/10\/24\/the-frog-and-the-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":1},"title":"The Frog and the Ibis","author":"Rob","date":"October 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One sunny afternoon, a frog was sitting on a rock, the cool clear stream, which was his home, lapped gently as it passes by. The frog sighed, \u201cWhat a wonderful world it is, everything in it\u2019s place and a place for everything\u201d he said out loud. Now, philosophical frogs being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robclarke.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}