Once upon a time a certain father heard that his children, living in another land, were hungry.  This news made the father very sad, but he knew there was a storeroom in the house where they lived that contained all that they could ever need, for he had built it himself, and provisioned it richly, foreseeing that such a time of hardship would come.  Therefore, he called a beloved and trusted messenger, and put into his hands a key to that storehouse, saying, “O Friend, though the way is long, I know you will not fail me. Take this and give it to my children, so that they may open the storehouse, and no longer suffer from hunger.”

The messenger accepted the task gladly, but after a long journey, when he at last reached the goal, the children did not give him a warm welcome.  Their hunger had made them angry and suspicious, and they did not want to listen to what the messenger had to say.  Instead, they beat him to the ground, threw the key upon the table, and began a prolonged debate as to what should be done.

Some thought that the key was a trick and the messenger was a schemer come to deceive them; they wanted to kill him immediately, and throw away the key.

Some believed that the key belonged to their father, but did not understand its purpose.  They were suspicious that the messenger had perhaps stolen the key. These wanted to imprison the messenger and hide the key, hoping to someday return it to their father.

Some, feeling that the key was indeed a message from their father, were overcome with emotion, and proposed to make copies of it as an ornament to wear upon their clothes and bodies.  Though still very hungry, they began a further debate as to how the key should be represented.  Some declared that, since the key came from their father, it was so sacred it should not be represented at all, while others said that the key was a symbol which all would understand in time — if they could only survive the present famine.

In the end, tired from their hunger and from all the argument, they threw the messenger out and went to bed, leaving the key upon the table.

Only one member of the family did not go to sleep.  He had his own idea about the meaning of the messenger and the key, but he also knew his brothers and sisters well.  Therefore, he waited until all were sound asleep, and then he quietly took the key, went to the innermost part of the house, where he had long suspected there was something precious hidden, and quickly understood how to unlock the storehouse.  All night long, he worked silently, bringing food and other provisions to place beside his sleeping family.  And while he worked, the messenger watched happily through a window, his own pains forgotten.

When the brothers and sisters awoke, they found they had all they needed, though they did not know how it had come, and the brother who had served them never disclosed the secret, fearing they might treat him even more roughly than they had treated the messenger.  

As for the messenger, when he returned to his Friend he was able to tell him that the difficult task had been accomplished, and the loving embrace he received was more than enough reward for all that he had endured.