Aesop Made Aeasy

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little girl. One day, she picked up a shovel and she put a perfect hole in the ground. She looked at it and felt unreasonably accomplished. So every single day, she came back and she dug her hole a little deeper. One shovel load a day.

People would walk by and ask her why she was digging a hole, what she was looking for and everyday she’d reply “Oh just because.”

Everyday, a shovel full.
A shovel full.
A shovel full.

One day she realized she was in her hole, knee-deep and six feet around. She had put a lot of work into making this immaculate hole. She was plenty proud of herself that she had gone this far along. Patiently digging her perfect little hole in the soft brown earth, just because.

Just then, a man walked by and said, “What are you digging for?”

The little girl shrugged her shoulders and she replied “A buried treasure.”

At that point, he jumped in, joined her and with his bare hands started clawing away at the ground. Cradling the dirt in a hammock made out of the bottom of his shirt, he and the girl would empty out the earth. Working silently side-by-side, carving out into the soil, making their way to their buried treasure, content to inch towards what he thought was their common goal.

One day, as they stood waist high in their masterpiece. A woman walked by and she said, “What’re you looking for?”

The man replied “A buried treasure!”
The girl added “With Gold! And, umm….DIAMONDS!”

“Diamonds!” The woman leapt in, she filled her purse full of soil and dumped it out, over and over again. They worked together, all three of them.

The woman’s mind consumed with thoughts of being adorned in Diamonds.
The man, inundated with dreams of opening a secret buried treasure.
And the little girl?
Her mind was empty. Save for the idea of making this perfectly circular, deep, endless hole.

Days passed and an elderly man on a cane walked by. Their heads just above the ground level, they all looked up and smiled. He said “What’re y’all digging for?”

The man said “A buried treasure!”
The woman said “WITH DIAMONDS!!!”
And the little girl said “AND a map to the fountain of youth!”

Just then, he slowly ambled his way down into the hole, helping them by loosening up the packed soil with his cane.

He tired quickly but was motivated by the idea of perennial youth and eternal life.
The woman's mind glittered with diamonds.
The man's mind eager to find the buried treasure.
The girl’s mind? Empty, except for the thought of this beautiful hole in the ground.

Everyday, they loosened up the earth, everyday, they poured the earth over itself, purseful, by shirtful, by shovelful.

One day, a young woman with a long face walked by. All she saw was dirt flying over the edges of the hole in the ground.

Curious, she poked her head in and saw the four covered in dirt, burrowing into the ground. She asked “What are you guys doing?”

The man said “Looking for a buried treasure!”
The woman said “Full of DIAMONDS!”
The elderly man said “And a map to the fountain of youth!”

And the girl added “And all the secrets to finding love and a direct link to a man’s heart!”

The young woman’s face brightened up and she dove in, her mind swirling with romantic thoughts of finding her true love.

Days passed. Maybe months, maybe even years.

One-by-one, her co-conspirators left her. Defeated and deflated when with each uncovered inch, they found nothing.

But the little girl, she continues to dig in her six foot wide perfect hole. Her hair matted with dirt. Her eyes greying and her skin jaundiced from lack of sun and light. Her nails chewed away. Her pretty dress soiled.

She’s in there alone except for a shovel and her thoughts.

Thoughts swirling about her head of finding a buried treasure replete with diamonds and eternal youth and true love.

The moral of the story is, if you lie long enough, even you will start buying into your own bullshit.