It seemed like an ordinary day when Amaru awoke. The birds were singing, and there was a bright, blue, cloudless sky. Amaru decided it was a good day for a walk to the beach, so off he went.
But it was not such an ordinary day after all, for, as Amaru walked along the shore, watching his brown toes scuff through the sand, he suddenly saw a brilliant blue stone gleaming up at him from among the plain brown rocks. He bent down and picked it up. It glowed with a blue fire all its own. It had a few golden flecks deep in its interior. He had never seen anything so beautiful or unique, and he realized at that moment that he had been looking for this stone all his life.
As Amaru walked home he wondered what he should do with his Stone. He knew he wanted it with him always. He would wear it on a chain. And since his small village had no goldsmith, he decided to go at once to the nearest town to have it set.
Amaru packed a lunch, wrapped the Blue Stone carefully in a clean cloth, and put it in his shirt next to his heart. Then he set off.
Several hours later, he reached the outskirts of the town. He saw some children playing and went over to ask them if they could direct him to the goldsmith.
But to his horror, he saw that they were playing with brilliant blue stones identical to his! When he asked the children about the stones, they said that everybody had them. A factory in the town made them!
Amaru pulled out his own blue stone and showed it to them. He explained that he had found it miles away, on the seashore. They wondered at this, but then to children anything is possible, and they went back to their game.
Disappointed and disillusioned, Amaru walked into the town. Sure enough, everyone had these stones--they were very common, not special at all. He went to the beach at the end of the main street. He took out the stone once again. He had thought that he had found a very precious, very special thing. His eyes filled with tears. Then he cast the stone as far as he could into the sea.
Just then, an old man came shuffling up, all out of breath. “Are you the one who came to our town carrying a Blue Stone?” he gasped.
Amaru said, “Yes, Uncle, but I learned that there was nothing very special about that stone and so I have cast it away.”
“Hoo!” lamented the old man, his head moving from side to side. “The prophecy has come true!”
He told Amaru that there was an old, old prophecy that one day a stranger would come to the town bearing the True Stone, the original Blue Stone. Unlike its copies that were so common, this Stone had the power to confer immortality, wisdom, and great happiness on its owner. But the bearer of the Stone would be unaware of its properties and would cast it away.
And so it had indeed come to pass!
Amaru thanked the old man and sadly returned to his village. And no matter how many times he walked and looked, Amaru never found another such gift among the plain brown stones on the shore.
