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A man was travelling through the desert lands in the north of India, where drinking water is a scarcity and has to be bought from water-boys. These would approach incoming trains, pitcher in hand and small earthenware pots in which they carefully measured out and dispensed the precious liquid.
Upon arrival at the station, the man leaned out of the window and called a water boy. The boy drew close, and the man asked him: "How much for one pot ?" - "Fifty cents of a rupee," answered the lad. "I give you thirty," bargained the traveller. At that, the water boy, without so much as looking at him, went away and approached other windows. The man was annoyed and shouted at him, "I called you first !" The boy turned towards him, and with surprising dignity in his bare feet and lean body, he answered solemnly, "I will not sell you water, sir. You are not thirsty. If you were thirsty, you would not bargain." And he went on his way, leaving the traveller without water.
Carlos G Valles S.J.
More Abundantly
"If you only knew what God is offering
and who it is that is saying to you:
Give me a drink,
you would have been the one to ask,
and He would have given you living water."John 4,10
"anyone who drinks the water that I shall give
will never be thirsty again:
the water that I shall give
will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life."John 4,14
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