Medvedev Dmitriy: http://www.proza.ru/2013/06/30/790
One day, the people of a certain village brought a sack of seeds to a porch of a family respected by all, and asked what to do with all that good. The mother of the family looked inside and notified them:
“From what you’ve brought here, a good harvest can be made. But there’s a problem: there are bad seeds mixed with the good ones. And I’ve grown old and my eyes can no longer tell the difference. Come back in a couple of days, after my children set the good apart from the bad, and you’ll receive a gift of that, which can be planted for the good of the whole settlement.”
The people rejoiced and left, leaving the sack with the sowing material. The first to start the sorting was the eldest son. He spent the entire day on the porch under a shed, sorting the contents by size, quality, color, shape and many other signs. And when the mother came out to see his work, she just clasped her hands:
“Abraham, dear,” She addressed him. “You’re very diligent and separate everything scrupulously. But in sorting the good from the bad, you’ve taken it too far. Most of your sets are pointless, and now it’s as hard to tale the piles apart as the mixed seeds.”
And so she had to ask the middle son to aid her. At the next evening, when she stepped outside, the mother saw with surprise that nothing changed, and the offspring just regarded the untouched seeds, deep in his thought. To her silent question he replied:
“The good can’t be separated from the bad, so there’s no point in trying. Let the villagers plant everything that’s in the sack, because each seed has its own path and during the reaping, each will get what his karma earned him.”
“Gotama, you’re just lazy!” The mother grew angry. “You make weird excuses in order to do nothing and take off all responsibility for the results from yourself. We are the ones who choose what to sow, and the harvest depends only on our hard work.
“Christie!” She called her daughter unhappily. “Help your brothers and me, sort the good seeds from the bad.”
“I’ll love to,” The child replied. “It won’t be hard, since Abe there already did half the work.”
The mother entered the house calmly, but when the next evening she stepped out to assess the work, she saw that the seeds grew much fewer, and the daughter beats the cat with a besom.
“What are you doing?” The old woman rushed to the poor animals’ aid.
“You see, mother, before getting to the sorting, I’ve decided to tell my simple-minded brothers where they’ve gone wrong. But in the heat of the argument, none of us noticed when the birds came flocking and ate some of the seeds. I couldn’t catch them, so I gave a piece of my mind to the cat, who just lazed on the porch and didn’t even try to stop them.”
“Christie, you punish the innocent for the sins of the guilty ones,” The mother shook her head. “More than that, your punishment won‘t bring back that which was lost, and the cat doesn’t understand what his fault is. Your priorities are wrong, and give nothing but pain, while failing to bring closer the separation of the good seeds from the bad ones.”
“Muhammad,” She spoke to the third son. “You’re still young, but I hope you can help me. Gather all the remaining seeds and sort the good from the bad.”
“Sure,” The youngest boy cheered and took to the work with zeal.
At the evening of the last day, the mother stepped to the porch and lost her speech. The shed was folded back, the seeds were even fewer, and they were set in one layer, darkened significantly by the sun.
“Look, mom,” The smallest son said proudly. “I’ve done more than you’ve asked. Now everyone can see the best seeds on our porch. As for the bad ones, I’ve sown them in the field, far from sight.”
The mother just sighed sadly.
“You’re short-sighted in your actions: the bad seeds might just rise, and the good ones are already destroyed due to your pride.” And with those words, she started to collect all that remained on the porch back to the sack.”
When the villagers came for their goods, she had nothing to do except to give them the sun-fried seeds, telling that it’s the best she has left. The people were very pleased and made her family a gift: a carpet of rare beauty.
“Look,” she addressed her children, when the farmers left their yard. “Even if you failed to do what I’ve asked you to, even if you didn’t help the people, they still love and cherish you. I’ll spread this carpet on our porch, to remind you of your mistakes. You’ll look at it and be reminded that people give you love and respect, which you don’t deserve.”
“Yes, mother,” The children hung their heads and regarded the new carpet on the porch. “We understand what it stands for.”
And before they’ve entered the house, each of them wiped their feet on it.