An argument over a stray calf led to slammed doors and silence. Will Joe and his neighbor reconcile?

Come Saturday morning, Old Joe heard a knock on his front door. He wasn’t expecting anyone and was surprised to find a young man who called himself a “traveling carpenter” standing on his porch. He had a wooden toolbox at his feet, and there was kindness in his eyes.

“I’m looking for work,” he explained. “I’m good with mu hands and if you have a project or two, I’d like to help you out.”

Old Joe replied, “Yes, as a matter of fact. I do have a job for you. See that house over there. That’s my neighbor’s house. You see that creek running along our property line? That creek wasn’t there last week. He did it to spite me!

He hitched a plow to his tractor and dug that creek bed from the upper pond right down the proerty line. Then he flooded it! Now we’ve got this creek to separate us.

I’m so darn mad at him! I’ve got lumber in my barn, boards, posts and everything you’ll need to build me a fence–all along that creek. Then I won’t have to see his place no more. That’ll teach him!”

The carpenter smiled and said, “I’ll do a good job for you.”

What kind of a wall will the carpenter build? Come back next time to find out.

“Old Joe and the Carpenter” can be found in Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from Around the World by Elisa Pearmain