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Essence

There was once a man who owned a camel. He just had this one camel as he was not very rich, and he was very fond of it.

One night a thief stole the camel. For us looking at camels there is not much difference between them, but people of those days could tell the difference fairly well, and the man who had owned the camel looked throughout the village until he found his camel. He then accused the thief of stealing it, at which the thief replied that that was ridiculous as it was his own camel.

So they argued like this for a long time until they were almost coming to blows, then a third person said to them, 'You had better go to the judge and see what he has to say.' The man who had stolen the camel thought, 'Nobody can prove this is not my camel. The only being who could say anything about it would be the camel itself, and it cannot talk, so I am pretty safe.'

They went to the judge, and after the judge had heard both men speak he finally said, 'The only thing I can think about this is that the real owner of the camel should understand something special about this animal, which the other man would not know.' He asked the thief, 'Do you know anything special?' and he replied, 'No, there is nothing special about the camel. It is just a camel, as far as I am concerned.'

The real owner said, 'I know something special, but the camel would have to be killed to find out. This particular camel has three black spots in its heart.' The judge thought about this, then said, 'Well that is a very difficult sign to prove, but you know what you say, and if you are speaking the truth we have to kill the camel. If we kill it and that sign is not there, you will be the guilty one for killing the camel.'

The real owner, who was a very kind and simple type of man, said, 'I will leave it to you. It is my camel and you asked me for proof which I have given you, so whatever you decide can be done.' The judge said to him, 'I cannot see how anybody could know the camel has three black spots in her heart.' 'Well I can,' replied the owner. 'I have had that camel since she was born, and I know all about her. Her mother died when she was young and so great was the pain she felt by being separated from her mother that she heaved a sigh which left a black spot in her heart. The second mark came when she lost her own foal, her young one. It died and you cannot imagine how sad she was. The third time was when she was roughly stolen from her stable by this man. I am sure that she gave a deep sigh then also, because she was very happy with me. I looked after her, but now she is going to be treated badly by this person who claims to be her master. I know her, and I see she is unhappy. Therefore when you asked me for special proof I realised these three black spots will distinguish her from any other camel. Three times in her life she has suffered deeply, and three times she has given these sighs of sorrow.'

Realising the love this man had for the camel, the judge decided he was the real owner and he should have the camel, but he said 'After she dies I want the camel examined to see if she really does have these three spots.' This was agreed to, and when the camel died it was found that what the owner had said was true. The judge was very affected by this and said to the man, 'You have taught me a very good lesson.'

The lesson is that people can suffer through love. The story also shows that we all carry special things in us. You all know how people say you look like your Mum or Dad. This is usually said about how you look on the outside but our story shows we carry looks inside as well.