Chameleon Magazine

Long ago, in a land of endless drought, a young astronomer named Saira set out to find the Well of Truth — a place said to hold the water that could quench not only thirst, but also the questions of the heart. She carried with her a glass vessel, empty and clear, to collect the sacred water once she found it.

“Truth,” the elders told her, “is hidden in the deepest well.”

So Saira journeyed across the cracked plains beneath a blistering sun. Her first stop was a valley of monks who guarded a stone well carved with mantras. When they drew water, it shimmered faintly with gold. “Drink,” said one. “This water is wisdom — it teaches that suffering cleanses the soul.”

Saira tasted it. The water was bitter but strong. Perhaps, she thought, truth is endurance.

Further on, she found another well in a forest, tended by women who sang as they drew it. Their water smelled of jasmine and rain. “It is love,” they said. “What use is truth without tenderness?”

Saira filled a drop into her glass. Perhaps truth is compassion.

In a mountain village, she met old shepherds who drew from a spring so clear it reflected the sky. They laughed and said, “This is the water of humility. It teaches us that the mountain and the stream are one.”

Saira smiled and took another drop. Perhaps truth is simplicity.

At last, she climbed beyond all paths, to where the stars seemed near enough to touch. There, she found no well — only an empty crater, silent and dry. Disappointed, she sat down and held up her glass vessel to the heavens. The stars reflected in it — thousands of tiny wells of light across the night.

And suddenly, she understood.

There was never one well — there were many, each reflecting the same sky. She lifted her glass and let the starlight pour into it. It filled, not with water, but with radiance — the light of all that is true in all who seek it. When she returned home, she poured a single drop into the village well. That night, everyone who drank from it dreamed of stars.

Truth is not found in one well, but in every drop that reflects the same sky.