Two cities stood facing one another on opposite sides of a wide canyon, one made of marble and the other sandstone. Beneath the cities, on the canyon floor, grew a forest of thorns. This made trade between the cities impossible. Many brave merchants had perished in the thorn forest, never to be heard from again.
However, two brave lovers, one from the marble city and one from the sandstone city, risked death just to see the other’s face and hear the other’s voice at the center of the canyon, where the thorns were so large they could cut a man in half.
The young man from the marble city described his aspiration to be a builder. The young woman from the sandstone city described her aspiration to be a sculptor. He did not know what he wished to build, nor did she know what she wished to sculpt, but they both wished to be together.
One day, the young man arrived at the center of the thorn forest. He waited for his lover to meet him there. When she arrived, he saw a thin red line on her cheek.
“What is that on your face, my love?”
“A thorn’s kiss,” she replied. “The thorn forest is growing thicker and thicker. Soon I won’t be able to meet you here.”
The young man, seeing the scratch on his lover’s cheek and hearing her words, then knew what he wished to build.
“Return safely to your sandstone city, my love, and wait for me. I’m going to build a bridge from my marble city to you – or die trying. This I swear.”
“I will, my love, and when I see you next I’ll know what to sculpt. Goodbye – for now.”
And so the young man returned to his marble city and begged the king to open the royal treasure vaults and fund a bridge.
“With this bridge, your highness, your vaults will fill again with gold from trading.”
The young man’s words were well received. But the king appointed other committee members to assist the young man.
That night the young man began to work on a design and the committee members began to work on designs of their own.
While the young man researched building materials, the committee members researched which bridge-traveling merchants would compromise their honesty and be bribed for favors.
During the next moon, the young man calculated the stress points of the design’s supports, strengthening any weaknesses in its foundations. Meanwhile, the committee members calculated the stress points of the tax collectors, weakening any strength in their principles, so to play favorites with the different merchants.
The next moon, the young man constructed many prototypes with different methods and chose the one with the most structural integrity. Throughout, the committee members constructed many facades and chose a different one to appear in to the different merchants and tax collectors.
“I’ve completed my design!” The young man explained to the committee after many sleepless midnights. The committee members had too.
“Let us deliberate!” they declared. And over the following weeks they slowly contaminated the young man’s design with their own. Their hands wriggled over it like the growing thorn forest in the canyon.
“Your design is too extreme,” one committee member proclaimed as he removed the young man’s steel foundations. He had made deals with a quarry master to lay the foundations with marble, in exchange for secret money.
“Your workers are too young!” another committee member boasted as he removed the private construction contractors and replaced them with lazy ones, like his brother, who couldn’t be fired no matter how slowly they worked.
“Your design is too plain!” cried a third committee member as he stamped marble facades beneath the bridge. He had promised to let merchants smuggle goods in secret passages.
“This will not stand!” The young man cried, tearing his hair out.
“Of course it will stand. It’s a compromise,” the committee members exclaimed. “ You do not know how to build things.”
“Build it,” demanded the king. And it was built.
When the opening day came, the marble city’s king was the first one to step out onto the bridge followed closely by his committee members.
As they reached the center point, the young man watched in terror as the supports twisted like the forest of thorns below. Then the marble foundations cracked and roared. The king and committee members squealed as they tumbled into the canyon and their compromises met the thorns.
A new king was crowned. The young man explained to him what the committee had done and why his designs would stand.
“Build it,” he said, swatting away the new committee members’ requests for compromises.
The young man contacted not the quarry master, but the steel maker and ordered a shipment as he’d planned. Then he hired private contractors who agreed to be paid handsomely when and only when the job was completed. Then he hired guards to protect the project from meddling committee members.
When the young man’s bridge was completed, he ran across it with the full certainty that it would transport him safely over the thorn forest and into the arms of his lover. It did.
“I know now what I wish to sculpt, my love,” said the young woman. And so she sculpted a likeness of the young man, not with marble facades but with steel foundations. She placed a statue of her lover in each city’s park.
All the citizens heralded the young man and his bridge, for he’d built what no committee’s compromises could ever build. From his integrity, came a new generation of merchants and lovers.
However, two brave lovers, one from the marble city and one from the sandstone city, risked death just to see the other’s face and hear the other’s voice at the center of the canyon, where the thorns were so large they could cut a man in half.
The young man from the marble city described his aspiration to be a builder. The young woman from the sandstone city described her aspiration to be a sculptor. He did not know what he wished to build, nor did she know what she wished to sculpt, but they both wished to be together.
One day, the young man arrived at the center of the thorn forest. He waited for his lover to meet him there. When she arrived, he saw a thin red line on her cheek.
“What is that on your face, my love?”
“A thorn’s kiss,” she replied. “The thorn forest is growing thicker and thicker. Soon I won’t be able to meet you here.”
The young man, seeing the scratch on his lover’s cheek and hearing her words, then knew what he wished to build.
“Return safely to your sandstone city, my love, and wait for me. I’m going to build a bridge from my marble city to you – or die trying. This I swear.”
“I will, my love, and when I see you next I’ll know what to sculpt. Goodbye – for now.”
And so the young man returned to his marble city and begged the king to open the royal treasure vaults and fund a bridge.
“With this bridge, your highness, your vaults will fill again with gold from trading.”
The young man’s words were well received. But the king appointed other committee members to assist the young man.
That night the young man began to work on a design and the committee members began to work on designs of their own.
While the young man researched building materials, the committee members researched which bridge-traveling merchants would compromise their honesty and be bribed for favors.
During the next moon, the young man calculated the stress points of the design’s supports, strengthening any weaknesses in its foundations. Meanwhile, the committee members calculated the stress points of the tax collectors, weakening any strength in their principles, so to play favorites with the different merchants.
The next moon, the young man constructed many prototypes with different methods and chose the one with the most structural integrity. Throughout, the committee members constructed many facades and chose a different one to appear in to the different merchants and tax collectors.
“I’ve completed my design!” The young man explained to the committee after many sleepless midnights. The committee members had too.
“Let us deliberate!” they declared. And over the following weeks they slowly contaminated the young man’s design with their own. Their hands wriggled over it like the growing thorn forest in the canyon.
“Your design is too extreme,” one committee member proclaimed as he removed the young man’s steel foundations. He had made deals with a quarry master to lay the foundations with marble, in exchange for secret money.
“Your workers are too young!” another committee member boasted as he removed the private construction contractors and replaced them with lazy ones, like his brother, who couldn’t be fired no matter how slowly they worked.
“Your design is too plain!” cried a third committee member as he stamped marble facades beneath the bridge. He had promised to let merchants smuggle goods in secret passages.
“This will not stand!” The young man cried, tearing his hair out.
“Of course it will stand. It’s a compromise,” the committee members exclaimed. “ You do not know how to build things.”
“Build it,” demanded the king. And it was built.
When the opening day came, the marble city’s king was the first one to step out onto the bridge followed closely by his committee members.
As they reached the center point, the young man watched in terror as the supports twisted like the forest of thorns below. Then the marble foundations cracked and roared. The king and committee members squealed as they tumbled into the canyon and their compromises met the thorns.
A new king was crowned. The young man explained to him what the committee had done and why his designs would stand.
“Build it,” he said, swatting away the new committee members’ requests for compromises.
The young man contacted not the quarry master, but the steel maker and ordered a shipment as he’d planned. Then he hired private contractors who agreed to be paid handsomely when and only when the job was completed. Then he hired guards to protect the project from meddling committee members.
When the young man’s bridge was completed, he ran across it with the full certainty that it would transport him safely over the thorn forest and into the arms of his lover. It did.
“I know now what I wish to sculpt, my love,” said the young woman. And so she sculpted a likeness of the young man, not with marble facades but with steel foundations. She placed a statue of her lover in each city’s park.
All the citizens heralded the young man and his bridge, for he’d built what no committee’s compromises could ever build. From his integrity, came a new generation of merchants and lovers.