Skip to main content

The Whisperer: A Tale of Experience and Expertise

The Whisperer: A Tale of Experience and Expertise

A giant ship’s engine failed and was grounded ashore. Several weeks passed, and the ship's owners tried one expert after another. However, none of the experts could figure out how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who has been fixing ships since he was young. He carried with him a large bag of tools, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work.

He inspected the engine very carefully—top to bottom. Two of the ship's owners were present, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. Gently, he tapped something, and instantly, the engine lurched into life. It was fixed!

He put his hammer in his bag and after some pleasantaries, went away without asking for anything.
A week later, the owners of the ship received a letter from the old man demanding ten thousand dollars.

"What?! He barely did anything!" The owners exclaimed.

So they replied the old man: "Please, can you send us an itemized bill?"

Few days later, the old man sent this bill:

Tapping with a hammer =$2
Knowing where to tap = $9,998

Moral: Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort is the most important thing.
Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ghost Footballer

The Ghost Footballer   written by Priyanka Banerjee, West Bengal (India)     When Rajiyappa died he was ‘only’ ninety-five. His wife was remorseful and she said that it was too early to go. Rajiyappa loved to play football from his childhood; but unfortunately he was not a good player and no one wanted to take him in the team. He wanted to be a footballer of “Gajendra”, which was the name of the village as well as the local football team and also wanted to win many trophies. His dream remained intangible. Consequently Rajiyappa stopped going to the football ground. He used to climb a tree which was far from the football ground and from there he watched football matches.  Days passed. Rajiyappa grew up and he tried to get chance in the college football team; but again he failed. Rajiyappa lost all his hope. After a few years Rajiyappa got married. Days passed. Rajiyappa never missed a single football match of his locality. His love for football remained unimpaired....
11 comments
Read more

Fairy-deary

Fairy-deary Written by Priyanka Banerjee, West Bengal (India)    Once upon a time there lived seven fairies. They used to serve the Wasp-King who was very cruel. The King was very strong and seven times bigger than the fairies and whenever the fairies made any mistake, they were stung by the evil Wasp-King. They travelled throughout the kingdom and reported everything to the King. They were afraid of the King and remained sad as the King made each of them wear a thin  headband by which all of them were under the spell of the King and was bound to do whatever the King asked them to do.  One day the King ordered his fairies to find a land where everything was made of gold- the trees, the fruits, the houses, the grasses everything. The fairies started to find that unknown Land of Gold. They were quite sure that they could not execute this impossible task and the Wasp King would punish them. When the sun was touching the horizon, the fairies sat on a cloud. They were ...
9 comments
Read more

"AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP" Short Story in English

AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP One night, three thieves stole a lot of money from a rich man’s house. They put the money in a bag and went to the forest. They felt very hungry. So, one of them went to a nearby village to buy food. The other two remained in the forest to take care of the bag of money. The thief that went for food had an evil idea. He ate his food at a hotel. Then he bought food for his two mates in the forest. He mixed a strong poison with the food. He thought, “Those two will eat this poisoned food and die. Then I will get all the money for myself.” Meanwhile, the two wicked men in the forest decided to kill their mate on return. They thought that they would divide the money between the two of them. All the three wicked men carried out their cruel plans. The thief who wanted all the money for himself came to the forest with the poisoned food. The two men in the forest hit him and killed him. Then they ate the poisoned food and died. Thus, these evil people met with an e...
2 comments
Read more