A Ferry Tale is a fable by Jack Rusher, published here Tuesday, January 09, 2007. It is part of Stories.
Everything has a price.
A ferry ship operating on the Nile, sketched in place by David Roberts (1846).
Three men — a priest, a beggar and an economist — arrived from three directions at the riverside quay of a ferryman. The ferryman requested a penny per man, round trip. The priest and the economist paid, each receiving a wooden token good for the return voyage, but the beggar couldn’t afford passage.
The ferryman set out with his two paying fares. The beggar stood for a moment on the shore, then took off his shoes and walked over the water.
The priest crossed himself twice and shouted upward to the heavens, “Lord in heaven, ‘tis a miracle!”
“Aye, father, but only a ha’penny one,” said the economist.