The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller

A charcoal-burner carried on his trade in a small dark house. Each day he burned wood into charcoal. Black dust lay in the corners, ash settled on the floor, and even the latch and window frame were stained by smoke. He was a hardworking man, but he thought that living alone cost too much and left him without friendly company.

One day at the market he met a friend who was a fuller, a man whose work was to cleanse and whiten cloth. The fuller’s hands were often in clear water, and in his yard white cloths hung on lines, spreading in the wind like little clouds. The charcoal-burner, glad to see him, said, “Come and live with me. We shall share the cost of housekeeping, and we shall be better neighbors and companions.”

The fuller did not answer at once. He thought of the charcoal-burner’s house, of the black dust, the smoke, and the heaps of coal. Then he thought of his own clean water and white cloth. If a newly washed cloth were hung near charcoal dust, or if smoke crept over it from the fire, a day’s labor might be ruined in a moment.

So he replied, “Your offer is kindly meant, but it cannot be. You spend your days making things black, while I spend mine making things white. Whatever I whiten, you would soon blacken again.”

The charcoal-burner saw then that saving money was not the only matter to consider. Some arrangements look useful at first but make each person’s work harder. Good companionship should not destroy the very tasks by which each one lives.