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Permission granted by author for anyone to distribute this
writing free of charge (including translation into any
language)...under condition that no profit is made therefrom,
and that it remain intact and complete, including title and 
credit to the original author.

Ezekiel J. Krahlin
http://www.gay-bible.org
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SAINT EUGENE AND THE ABUNDANT WELL
(A Parable For The 21st Century)

© 1997 by Ezekiel J. Krahlin
(Jehovah's Queer Witness)


     Once upon a time there was a village in the desert that
grew to metropolis size.  But while it was still a village it
experienced its first serious drought in the fourth year of
recorded history. Before The Drought they never conserved
water; after The Drought they did. Since 1 A.D. ("After" the
"Drought"), despite the corrective safeguard of separate
family wells linked with pipes to the Great Well (thus meted
and measured), there were some who grew too conservative, even
in times of abundant rain.  Ishmael was one of them.

     Now, Ishmael was surrounded by generous neighbors; as a
matter of fact the whole town was a union of generous
neighbors...even Ishmael, until The Devil planted a bad seed
in his heart.  It was in The Year of the Brimming Wells
(following the Great Rain)--a time when all people need not be
concerned about lack of water--that the Seed of Avarice
stirred in Ishmael's bosom. "Since we are each allotted 1
well-full of water per month, whether drought or abundance, we
must always plan and count our water use carefully, so as not
to become a burden to our neighbors," thought Ishmael.  "But,"
he continued, raising a finger to an imaginary accomplice, "if
I can find an unquestioned excuse to take water from a
neighbor for the first two weeks of every month, I will have
so much water that I'll need never conserve!"

     So Ishmael set his plan to task.  Coming up with an
ironclad excuse was tough...one that no one would question,
hence never bring to the attention of the Water Priests.  But
choosing a victim among his many generous neighbors took no
more time than the flip of a fly's wing. Ishmael's eyes lit
up:  "Eugene, the Town Fool, of course!"

     Eugene (the Town Fool) was born happy, and remained that
way.  No one ever knew why he laughed so much, so they wrote
it off to mental retardation and put him on Social Security.  
Eugene  took everyone at their word, and therefore was the 
perfect dupe for Ishmael's devious scheme.

         

     At the time of Ishmael's plan, a species of large frog
was migrating across the desert territory, occasionally
clogging some of the irrigation pipes that connected the Great
Well to individual wells. Though it never took more than two
days to clear any number of frogs (and their eggs) from a
conduit they currently occupied, it was common during those
months for neighbors with unplugged lines to provide some
water to those whose wells were stopped.

     Hence, Ishmael was assisted in his scheme by a freak of
nature; so it was easy for him to convince Eugene that his
well was stopped up with frogs.  Eugene, of course, never
questioned Ishmael's daily requests for water...not even when
his own well was only a quarter full by the fifteenth of the
month.

     By the second month, the seed in Ishmael's heart had
taken root in the hearts of his neighbors...but Eugene never
questioned their motive, even though his well was only an
eighth full by the fifteenth.  By the third month, the entire
village (except the Water Priests) was knocking on Eugene's
door every day...and Eugene's well was down to only a
bucketful by the fifteenth. Meanwhile, Ishmael gloated over
the abundance of water now in his well, so that he could
splash away to his heart's content, heedless to the other
villagers' use of Eugene's well...or to the probability of
Eugene dying of thirst.  Needless to say, everyone acted like
Ishmael at this point (except the Town Fool, of course).

     This continued month after month, and Eugene laughed
through it all, ladling a bucket of water for anyone who
knocked.  Even when down to only a bucketful, his well still
provided enough water to meet everyone's needs, including his
own.  A year passed since the advent of Ishmael's scheme...but
no one had yet stopped to wonder why Eugene's well never ran
dry. But Eugene kept chuckling, knowing with absolute clarity
that the day would come when everyone must acknowledge the
miracle of his well, and from whence the water came.



---finis