A girl in one of the workshops by the river was too poor to buy oil for the lamp; so the other girls decided to drive her away.
As the poor girl was leaving she said to the others:
“Because I couldn’t afford to pay for the light, I always arrived first at dawn to sweep the room and put down the mats. Your light shines on all four walls: Why grudge me a share in it? It doesn’t hurt you to let me borrow your light, and I make myself useful to you. Why should you drive me away?”
Realizing the truth of what she said, they let her stay after all.
Allegorical Meaning
The fable dismantles the false economy of exclusion, revealing how communities weaponize “fairness” to marginalize the vulnerable—even when inclusion costs nothing.
The Illusion of Scarcity
The girls accuse the poor maiden of “freeloading”, framing light as a zero-sum resource. Her rebuttal exposes their fallacy:
- Fixed Costs, Variable Gains: The lamp burns regardless; her use adds no expense.
- Unclaimed Contribution: Her early labor (sweeping, laying mats) benefits all yet goes unvalued.
Modern parallel: Denying refugees jobs claiming “they steal work,” ignoring their net economic contribution.
Invisible Labor Recognition
Her pre-dawn preparations represent the unpaid “labor” often ignored in societies. Like modern workplace cleaners whose contributions surface only when absent, she forces recognition of infrastructural carework.
True fairness measures not what each contributes, but what all gain by belonging.
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