ABSTRACT
There is an Armenian folk tale about a young traveler whose eye is captured by an interestingly shaped stone on the side of the road. He walks past the stone, but can’t quite shake its image from his mind. He retraces his steps, picks up the stone, and stuffs it in his pocket, not having any thought about what he will do with it. Throughout his journey, he finds inventive uses for the stone, including as a projectile to slay a fierce dog that attacks him. At the end of the story, the traveler happens to break the stone, finding a valuable diamond inside it. The story’s lesson, I think, is that we should embrace those things (ideas or stones) that grab our interest, even if we are not sure of their immediate value.
