The Bed of Nails: a parable

Once there was a man who slept on a bed of nails.

He had trouble sleeping, and one night he said to his wife, “The dog! The dog walks all night with his nails clacking and scraping on the floor. He has to go. I can’t sleep.”

So the next day his wife took the dog to the pound. But the man still did not sleep well.

Another night soon he said, “Wife! I can’t sleep. The house creaks and moans and is simply too loud. I can’t live here anymore.”

So the next day his wife sold the house and bought them a tent and they slept in it. But the man lying on the nails still could not sleep.

“Wife!” he said. “These children you bore me are restless all night. They moan and turn in their sleep. Sometimes they come running in, crying. I can’t sleep with these children around! They have to go.”

“If the children go,” said his wife, “then I go, too.”

At this the man paused for a minute, for his wife was very useful to him, and somewhat dear. But he really couldn’t sleep, so he said, “Let it be so.”

So his wife took the children and left the man in his tent, lying on the nails.

And, oddly, he still could not sleep.