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THE STOREKEEPER A story of learning. A story of teaching.

There once was a storekeeper. He kept a store for a

magician. His storage was full of lovely figures, sculptures

and figurines, all kinds of shapes, sizes, materials and

weights. There were wooden statues, vases carved from

precious stones, metal sculptures, crystal bowls, porcelain

dolls, wax figures, African masks and animals carved from

exotic timber.

All these items had magic in them. Each one

represented a real thing and they had the power to

whisper their meaning into the minds of the magician.

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In the beginning of time, the statues and figures were

neatly stacked in the shelves of the great storage. Each of

them was wrapped in a cloth and placed into a silk bag to

protect it. The storekeeper could tell them apart by shape

and weight, sometimes by their scent. Special figures had

special places and the storekeeper knew his storage so

well, he could have reached for any item in the dark. He

served his master well and never failed to bring out the

appropriate wisdom for any situation.

Then times changed. The magic started working and

spreading among the common people. They devised new

ways of carving, of casting, shaping and molding. And they

started producing figurines by the droves.

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The master wanted to own some of those fashionable

statues. He got whole armfuls and expected that the

storekeeper find room on his shelves, and merge them with

the existing stock. The magician brought a tray of twenty-

four green clay frogs with white bellies, (for example) and

said (for example): “Storekeeper, take care of these in a

hurry. There are new grey frogs on the market, with blue

dots on their backs, and I must get a tray of those as well.”

“Oh, great magician,” said the storekeeper, “is your

wisdom not plentiful enough? Would one of each kind not

serve your purposes well? The figures are the carriers of

knowledge and wisdom; it is quite enough to have one of

each remind us. Tell me, pray, why own twenty-four clay

frogs? Do you expect to forget the meaning of a frog

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twenty-four times?” (You can tell that the magician and his

storekeeper were on friendly terms.)

“Storekeeper, mind your own business. Things are

moving so fast, nowadays, that they’ll invent other clay

figures. Hurry! Do something.”

You might imagine the confusion. The storekeeper

started using brown wrapping paper, as the kingdom had

run out of cloths and silk bags. He rushed to put them on

the shelves, all the green clay frogs on one shelf, the grey

ones with the blue dots next to them. Finally, the magician

turned up with purple frogs with pink legs. The storekeeper

was exasperated. He wrapped them into brown paper and

stacked them on the shelf with the other frogs.

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The magician went on a trip to find some very

fashionable elephant figures, carved from sandalwood. He

returned with a basket full of elephants of all sizes.

“Take care of them, store them well; these are likely to

be the last pieces of that range; they will be worth a

fortune in a year or so.”

The storekeeper sighed, ordered another roll of brown

wrapping paper, pushed some precious vases towards the

back and stacked the wrapped elephants into a shelf.

“I’m losing sight of this,” he mumbled, when he

finished his task. “There is no way to keep all these figures

apart. They all look the same to me.”

Of course, one day the inevitable happened.

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The magician came rushing into the storage, out of

breath and ruffled.

“Storekeeper, I need the rough-tough-laugh grey frog

with the blue dots and the golden eyes. Bring it out to me

right now, for the people in the Comritire section of the

Wigglewire district were attacked by the Wenchtrore army

and the attack made them lose hope. I need to get them to

rough it out, and be tough and laugh at the enemy.”

“Oh, woe unto me,” cried the storekeeper, “A grey frog

with blue dots and golden eyes?”

“Yes, grey for rough, blue for tough and golden for

laugh, you knew that!”

“Master, I can try.”

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The storekeeper reached into the frog shelf and took

one of the brown paper lumps out.

“Master, they look all the same to me. Let’s hope for

the best.”

“What are you saying, storekeeper, you don’t know my

store?”

“Sir, I can perfectly remember anything and everything

if it comes one at a time and I store it away one at a time.

But the way you have been going on, bringing trays and

baskets of the same figures, bly me, a man is not a

machine.” (You can tell that in a fight, they were on formal

terms.)

“Stop your foolish talk. What have you brought out of

the shelf? Look at this. It’s a green frog... a hoop – swoop –

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troop frog for rounding up scattered soldiers. Try again.

Quick! The people of Comritire need strength.”

“Let me try another one.”

“Try, try, try. Now just look at this. It’s a grey frog with

yellow dots and red eyes. It’s a wine – dine – fine frog for

entertainment. What is the matter with you? Can’t you tell

the difference?”

“No, Sir, to me they look the same. Almost the same.

Frogs, brown wrapper, all in the same shelf.” The

storekeeper was disheartened.

“But can’t you make out the difference between green

frogs with white bellies and grey frogs with blue dots? Let

me show you the difference between.... “

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“Sir, with due respect: you of all people should know

that a difference between can’t be shown. Between is not a

thing. You can show me one frog. You can show me

another frog. Those are the things I see. My mind sees two

things that are almost identical. My mind believes what it

sees. If I’m supposed to keep them apart then don’t show

them to me together. I just take what you give me and

store it. And the way you have been loading the goods on

me, I couldn’t help but store away together the things that

you gave me together. Now don’t blame me if I can’t keep

them apart.”

“Just listen to your impertinent words, storekeeper.

Now will you just do your duties and help me save the

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Comritirians with the rough-tough-laugh frog, the grey one

with the blue dots and golden eyes!”

“Master, for the first time in history, I fail. I don’t know

which one of these is the rough-tough-laugh frog. Have the

king cut off my head if you will.”

“You have me in a good mind to do so, storekeeper.

But it won’t save the people from the Wenchtrorian

onslaught. No time for quibbling over heads. Let’s work

together. We’ve got to unwrap all the frogs and find the

right one. I’ll start at this end of the shelf, you’ll start there.

Don’t rush. We can’t afford to make another mistake.”

“I wish you had chanced on that no-rush wisdom a bit

sooner. There is a nursery rhyme from my childhood: One

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by one, what good fun. Store apart the things you want to

keep apart.”

This is the moral of this story. (What? Is that it? Well,

well, of course, they found the rough-tough-laugh frog and

the magician got to the battle field just in time to do his

magic on behalf of the people of Comintire. The

Wenchtrorian army was pushed back across the border.

Then the magician put his mind to creating order in his

storage. He fixed a note to the door saying: Store apart the

things you want to keep apart. Difference between is not a

thing to be seen.) Irma Walter 2011

Author’s note: Comparing is valid for examination. Comparing is not valid for learning.