The Aqueduct
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
62 Stories For Cycle B
Years ago there was an aqueduct that brought fresh water into the center of the village, all the way from the lake near the top of the mountain. It had been carefully constructed so that gravity carried the water even over steep inclines and around sharp bends. The man who built the aqueduct was very wise and had devoted his entire life to its completion. Now all that remained of the ancient waterway were a few weathered pillars here and there along the path.
Women told this story to their children as they followed the path up the mountain to fetch water from the lake. Some of the women said that they could remember their grandmothers telling of a time when water flowed directly into the village. But for as long as any of them could remember, women had climbed the mountain daily to get fresh water for their families. "What happened to the aqueduct?" the children would always ask. And the answer was always the same. "It was destroyed many years ago in a war with another village."
The story was told for generations, as women trudged up and down the mountain carrying the heavy jars of water on their heads and in their hands, until at last a young woman named Esther declared that she would rebuild the aqueduct. Everyone laughed at her. "It can't be done," they said. "The engineering knowledge that it would take to build such a thing has long been lost. There is no one among us who is wise enough to build an aqueduct - and certainly it could not be built by a woman." But Esther did not give up. She was determined to see the aqueduct rebuilt in her lifetime. While other young women were marrying and raising their children, Esther studied and planned. She read books on building and she journied to the far side of the mountain to talk to builders from other villages. One day she met an old man who had once helped in the construction of an aqueduct. Esther asked him many questions and the man told her as much as he knew. When he was finished, Esther returned to her village certain that she now had enough knowledge to build the aqueduct. She drew up a plan and began recruiting men and women to help with the building. The men refused to help at first, but they soon saw that it was a workable plan, and then they joined gladly in the labor. In just fifteen years the aqueduct was completed and fresh water again flowed into the center of the village.
The aqueduct served the village for many years, until the time came when no one remembered when water had been carried by head and hand. It never occurred to them, when war broke out with a village on the other side of the mountain, that the aqueduct might be destroyed, or what it would mean to live without it. If they had known, they might have guarded the aqueduct more carefully, or perhaps they would have chosen not to go to war at all. This became part of the story that the women told their children, after the war was over, as they trudged up the mountain every day to fetch fresh water for their families. "What happened to the aqueduct?" the children asked. And the answer was always the same.
Women told this story to their children as they followed the path up the mountain to fetch water from the lake. Some of the women said that they could remember their grandmothers telling of a time when water flowed directly into the village. But for as long as any of them could remember, women had climbed the mountain daily to get fresh water for their families. "What happened to the aqueduct?" the children would always ask. And the answer was always the same. "It was destroyed many years ago in a war with another village."
The story was told for generations, as women trudged up and down the mountain carrying the heavy jars of water on their heads and in their hands, until at last a young woman named Esther declared that she would rebuild the aqueduct. Everyone laughed at her. "It can't be done," they said. "The engineering knowledge that it would take to build such a thing has long been lost. There is no one among us who is wise enough to build an aqueduct - and certainly it could not be built by a woman." But Esther did not give up. She was determined to see the aqueduct rebuilt in her lifetime. While other young women were marrying and raising their children, Esther studied and planned. She read books on building and she journied to the far side of the mountain to talk to builders from other villages. One day she met an old man who had once helped in the construction of an aqueduct. Esther asked him many questions and the man told her as much as he knew. When he was finished, Esther returned to her village certain that she now had enough knowledge to build the aqueduct. She drew up a plan and began recruiting men and women to help with the building. The men refused to help at first, but they soon saw that it was a workable plan, and then they joined gladly in the labor. In just fifteen years the aqueduct was completed and fresh water again flowed into the center of the village.
The aqueduct served the village for many years, until the time came when no one remembered when water had been carried by head and hand. It never occurred to them, when war broke out with a village on the other side of the mountain, that the aqueduct might be destroyed, or what it would mean to live without it. If they had known, they might have guarded the aqueduct more carefully, or perhaps they would have chosen not to go to war at all. This became part of the story that the women told their children, after the war was over, as they trudged up the mountain every day to fetch fresh water for their families. "What happened to the aqueduct?" the children asked. And the answer was always the same.
