The Rock on the Road

In a distant kingdom, there was once a king who placed a

large rock in the middle of the main entrance road to the
kingdom, impeding the passage. Then he hid to see if
someone removed it.

The wealthiest merchants in the kingdom and some courtiers

who passed by simply surrounded the rock. Many of them
stayed a while in front of the rock complaining, and blamed
the king not to keep the roads clear, but none did anything to
remove the obstacle.

Then a peasant arrived carrying a load of vegetables. He left it

on the ground and studied the rock on the way watching it. He
tried to move the rock by pushing and prying it with a wooden
branch that he found on the side of the road, after pushing
and getting very fatigued, he finally managed to push the rock
away. While picking up his load, he found a bag, just where
the rock had been. The bag contained a good amount of gold
coins and a note from the king, indicating that this was the
reward for those who cleared the way.

The peasant learned what the others never learned:

Each obstacle overcome is an opportunity to improve one's

condition.