The Merchant and The Vine

A Fable About Business Collaboration

A merchant owned a store filled with treasures from all over the world. Turquoise and saffron silk adorned his shop window, wind chimes tinkled in his doorway, gold and red lacquer boxes invited customers to take another look. His store was popular with people near and far, and the merchant soon grew rich.

The merchant dreamed of growing richer by expanding his shop. Late at night, he envisioned owning the whole street. Both sides, all his! Never did he wonder where the baker might go, or where people would buy their fruits and vegetables, or how the village would manage without its tea shop. He thought only about how much richer he would be.

One day a mysterious woman walked through the village and stopped at his store. She fingered soft leather slippers and admired brass candlesticks that glistened in the sunlight. She reached into her pocket and took out three bright red seeds. Handing the merchant the first seed, she told him to plant it near the street, explaining a tall tree would grow. “People will see it from miles away and know where your store is,” she assured him.

She dropped the second seed into his hand, instructing him to plant it near the door of his shop. “This will grow a rose bush. Its fragrance will invite people into your shop.”

The woman handed the third seed to the merchant. “Whatever sprouts from this seed will show what’s in your heart.” He planted the seeds that night. When he slept, he dreamt of gold and silver coins cascading from the heavens into his hands.

The seeds sprouted and matured before the sun rose. Looking out of his bedroom window that morning, the merchant saw a pine higher than the tallest building in front of his shop. It was visible from miles away and would make finding his shop easy.

He rushed downstairs. Next to his shop door, a bush covered with roses red as the finest rubies bloomed with a scent so pure people would surely come closer and step into his store.

The third seed grew a vine that snaked up and down the street, knotting itself around every building except the merchant’s. It covered doors and windows, crept into houses and wrapped itself around tables and chairs. It even tangled itself around a cow. He desired to possess everything up and down the street and that is what the vine revealed.

Men and women who should have been tending their stores, baking bread, or serving tea spent their day chopping the vine. Only the merchant’s store was open, but business was terrible. Even though his roses were inviting, people left the village quickly when they found that most businesses were closed. There was no place to sip a cup of tea or buy a sweet roll, no place to browse for books or buy vegetables.

That night the merchant spent a lot of time thinking. Maybe it was the fragrance of the roses or the thin peel of moon shining through the tall pine, but his heart started to ease. All the shops in the village attracted people — if his shop were the only one, few people would visit. Without the tea shop and the fruit seller, the apothecary and the tailor, no one would come to the village at all.

In the morning the villagers awoke to find the vine no longer encircled their homes and businesses. Instead, it wove itself into a leafy canopy that arched over the street and shaded people from the hot sun. Butterflies fluttered among hanging golden flowers.

The merchant opened his shop and smiled. It was going to be a beautiful day.