Long, long ago, there lived a highly skilled carver. He spent his days in poverty unknown to the world. One morning when he went out into his yard, he saw a lizard playing around among the stones. He found the lizard to be so attractive that he stood there looking at it with an open mouth. He had an urge to carve one like that. He made a copy of its form, and in a short time he had made a silver hilt ornament. He was proud that he had done so well. The carver took the ornament to a curio dealer who bought it right away. The dealer liked it so much that he ordered many such ornaments one after another. Everyone started praising the carver as a skilled craftsman. He became famous. No matter how many ornaments he made, he easily sold them. As he made more of the hilt ornaments, his life became easier.
The Carver Becomes Poor
Now, the carver started making the sword hilt ornaments. Then, something strange happened. Whenever he went out to see, no matter what weather it was, the same lizard would come out from between the stones and play before his eyes. In the beginning, he did not think much about it, but as time passed by, it began to get on his nerves. He began to feel very disturbed about it. Furthermore, only he could see the lizard; no one else could. Finally, he could not bear it any longer, and in a moment of anguish, he threw a rock at the lizard and killed it. From then on, the carver’s fame suddenly began to decline. Now, no one was ready to buy his ornaments, though he made them from time to time. The orders for the lizard hilt ornaments came completely to an end. Slowly, with time the man became a poor carver which he had been earlier.
