A little group of lease-holders decided to start a carrot patch to grow only perfectly golden-orange carrots, carrots that would be solely for the landowner, and would be grown strictly according to the manual.
It took lots of work. Many were the obstacles they had to overcome. Many who brought their seeds to these lease-holders angrily carried their seeds back when they found out only golden-orange carrots would be produced. The lease-holder’s association was amused at first, and then antagonistic as they found out someone was actually going to use the landowner’s manual to grow carrots. But the worst opposition was from those who were growing the mixed carrots. Their double-mindedness would be made plain for all to see if they allowed someone to actually try and carry out the instructions as laid out in the landowner’s manual. They ostracized them, they circulated falsehoods about them, and they even took this little group to court to try and make them stop attempting to produce golden-orange carrots. But thru all these problems, the little group of lease-holders saw the answers in the manual, and kept diligently working to produce perfect carrots.
The ground was stony, the monetary reward nil. Droughts were scarcely over when the floods came. A fence had to be erected to keep the young carrots from looking over at the other carrot patches, and becoming envious of the blue carrots they could see during the day, and hear during the nite. Cold spells came that threatened to freeze everything to death. Sunny days in the summer were enough to make not only the most perfect carrot want to wilt, but even the lease-holders too! When the leafy tops appeared nicely, many bugs were attracted which required constant oversight. It seemed that the carrots needed even more care as they came to perfection than they did when first planted.
Finally the day came – the first harvesting of the golden-orange carrots. Sadly, a wild boar attracted by the smell of ripening carrots had come into the carrot patch the previous nite, and had mutilated two of the carrots. One of the caretakers had saved them from being eaten, and in looking at the manual, it was seen that the landowner would still accept such a carrot if it was injured, but that the caretakers should have been more watchful.
The spade went into the well-watered, firm yet not hard soil. It brought up……a perfect golden-orange carrot! There was great rejoicing among all the caretakers and lease-holders of this carrot patch at the rare sight. Another spade-full, and another, each bringing up perfect carrots for the landowner. Even some of those seed-owners who had reservations at first about allowing their seeds to be planted here started to beam. No attempt was made at judging them. Each carrot had its own unique characteristics – some stouter, some oranger, some with more symmetrical leaves, some with stronger smells etc., all perfect in their own way. Some seed-owners still looked sour that the carrots were not blue, but most of them smiled broadly as they tied up their bundles for the landowner. Some were even kind enough to allow their carrots to stay behind, so that they could produce seed enough for the next crop of carrots.
When will the landowner come back? No one except the landowner himself knows. But in his manual he gives enough clues to let one know that he will definitely come back, and that it will be soon. He has said the only the perfect will be able to stay with him. Will he find any perfect carrots or faithful caretakers and lease-holders when he returns?