The Smithy

Once words ran high in a smithy.

The furnace said, "If I cease to burn, the smithy must be closed."

The bellows said, "If I cease to blow, no fire, no smithy."

Similarly the hammer and the anvil each claimed to itself the sole credit of keeping up the smithy.

The ploughshare, that had been shaped by their joint efforts, said, "Gentlemen, it is not each that keeps the smithy, but all together. With but one, good for none. Without the many, no good to any. The world works by combination."