The Father and His Two Daughters

Summary

The story revolves around a father visiting his two daughters, each married to men with professions that thrive under opposite weather conditions: one daughter is married to a gardener who benefits from rain, while the other is married to a tile-maker who needs dry weather to produce bricks. When the father asks each daughter about her well-being, he receives opposing wishes from them; one desires rain, and the other wishes for continued dry weather. This presents a dilemma for the father, as he is unable to join in either daughter’s wish without disappointing the other. The story highlights how individual needs and desires can conflict, especially when they depend on circumstances beyond human control, such as the weather, illustrating the complexity of satisfying everyone’s desires simultaneously.

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A Man had two daughters, the one married to a gardener, and the other to a tile-maker. After a time he went to the daughter who had married the gardener, and inquired how she was and how all things went with her. She said, “All things are prospering with me, and I have only one wish, that there may be a heavy fall of rain, in order that the plants may be well watered.” Not long after, he went to the daughter who had married the tilemaker, and likewise inquired of her how she fared; she replied, “I want for nothing, and have only one wish, that the dry weather may continue, and the sun shine hot and bright, so that the bricks might be dried.” He said to her, “If your sister wishes for rain, and you for dry weather, with which of the two am I to join my wishes?”