The Diamond

One day, a poor man was walking by the river near his hut, when he spotted in the water something pink and shimmering. He waded into the river and pulled up the object. It was a large, very clear, very vibrant diamond the size of his fist. Amazed, he took the diamond back to his hut, where he placed it in a little alcove where the sunlight shone upon it. He sat before the diamond until the sun set, then went to sleep. 

The next day, he went to visit a friend to show him the diamond. His friend was astonished. “Well!” he cried. “This will make you a fortune! Let’s take it to town.”

But the man shook his head.

“What?” his friend asked. “But you are poor! This could make you rich!”

“The diamond,” said the man, “is enough. I am not starving, after all. I will hold onto this diamond, and worship it as if it were a god. And should I ever have a child, I will pass it onto him, so that he might worship it as a god as well.”

The man’s friend looked at him hard and long. “Are you insane?” he said.

“Perhaps so,” said the man. “But I would rather worship a diamond than money. For a diamond will never lose its value. It is permanent, like love.”

The man’s friend shook his head, smiling. “You certainly are a strange man,” he said. “But who am I to say what you should and should not worship? If it makes you whole, then it must be holy.”

On the way back to his hut, as he approached the river, he heard the sound of singing. He came out of the woods and saw, bathing in the river, a beautiful young woman. She looked up and saw him. Embarrassed, the man retreated, but the woman called out to him.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “Come here.”

The man walked smiling toward her. She was naked and wading in the water. 

“Why don’t you come in here?” she said. “The water is very warm.”

The man smiled. He set his diamond down on the river bank, took off his clothes and went into the water. The woman playfully splashed him and giggled. She then began to sing again. She smiled at the man. He golden hair shimmered in the sunlight. “Why don’t you come to me?” she said.

The man waded up to her.

“Kiss me,” she said. Her eyes were narrow and lustful.

The man then remembered the diamond, and his vow to love it with singular devotion for the rest of his days. The man saw the woman’s face. She no longer seemed beautiful. He turned and walked out of the river, leaving the woman behind as tears filled her eyes.

When he got back onto the bank, he found that his diamond was gone. In a panic, he looked all about for it, but it was not to be found.

He looked back at the woman, but she too had disappeared. He heard the sound of evil laughter, as if out of the air. Where the woman had been, the man saw something shimmering in the water. He waded in, reached down, and pulled out a diamond the size of his head. Amazed, he carried it ashore. It was so heavy he had to roll it back to his hut. The man sat before the diamond all the rest of the day, then went to sleep at night. 

The next day, he went back to his friend and told him what had happened. His friend thought he was crazy, until the man brought him back to his hut and showed him the second diamond. “You see?” said the man. “I’m not crazy at all! It really happened!”

His friend could do nothing but shake his head in amazement.

That night, the man lay in his bed, trying to sleep, but he couldn’t forget all the strange happenings of the day. It was pitch black, but he could sense the diamond’s presence, as if it were alive and breathing. He got up and went over to it. Feeling his way, he put his hand on the surface of the stone. He felt his breath being taken from him. He removed his hand and his breath returned. As if drawn by some ineluctable force, he placed his hand on the stone once more. His soul, slowly and without fear, moved out of his body and into the diamond, which laughed a sinister laugh as the man’s body fell lifeless to the floor.

The next day, his friend found him there. He took the diamond in his arms, left, and went to town, where he sold it for millions of dollars. 

Many years later, a young boy looked upon the diamond from behind glass at a museum, and he thought he could see the faces of many men within its shimmering facets. He also heard a faint sound—the sound of a woman’s wicked laughter.