The Broken Hourglass🔊

Once upon a time, in the serene town of Sandalwood, resided an exceptional clockmaker, Old Ben. A master of his craft and beyond the notions of time, his creations pulsated with life, catching the attention of many far and wide.

One day, a stranger in a hooded cloak with stunning sapphire eyes appeared at Ben's renowned establishment. He placed a broken hourglass on the counter, its grains loosely throwing about, its glass marred with a crack. He said, 'This hourglass used to measure time differently and uniquely, just for me. Its value is infinite. Can you mend it, sir?'

Intrigued, Old Ben took up the challenge. He studied the hourglass, recognizing its mystical aura. Its design was alien to his senses, yet it drew him in strangely.

Ben started with the glass; melded it with his hands steady and eyes focussed. With fine powder of pearls, he filled up the cracks. Days merged into nights, and the affixed glass sparkled under the fading candlelight.

Now comes the most vital part - the sand. For the hourglass to revert to its unique function, it required the exact sand grains. Ben contemplated for long and finally resorted to his wisdom.

Instead of the regular sand, he took fragments of different things- stardust from the night sky, dewdrops from a winter morning, laughter from a playful child, tears from a lover's plight, echoes of the hushed wind, and more. He collected these grains of time, these fragments of existence and ground them into the finest consistency. This, he believed, would give the hourglass the ability to count not just minutes and seconds but moments and feelings.

Finally, in the presence of the full moon, he filled the hourglass. Each grain reflected the moonlight, shimmering with unbound energy. The stranger returned, his eyes reflecting the dancing moonlight as he saw the restored hourglass.

However, something made him feel uneasy. He gripped the hourglass and turned it around. The sand flowed like liquid gold, each grain captivating his gaze. But his eyes dropped the next moment.

'Why does the hourglass now measure not in my time, but in universal fragments of existence?'

Smiling, Old Ben explained, 'I could've fixed it so that it continued telling time as you knew it, individual and personal. But wouldn't it be beautiful to perceive time as a collection of moments, of emotions and experiences? In measuring these fragments, we understand empathy and connect ourselves with the universe.'

The stranger was taken aback. Silence felt like an eternity, and then he broke into a hearty laugh. 'Old Ben, you've indeed mended the hourglass better. Not just told time, you've taught me a lesson of a lifetime.'

That day, the stranger didn’t only take an hourglass home, instead he took a piece of the universe, bound in glass, flowing with moments that made him a part of the world. And Ben, he continued weaving time in his clocks, not just in moments and hours, but in feelings and experiences.

And in Sandalwood, time didn't exist merely as a linear phenomenon observed in ticking clocks and fleeting shadows. It transformed into an entity that bound everyone included in the mystical rhythm of the universe, enchanted by Old Ben's sense of time.