The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller

A charcoal-burner, whose trade left every surface of his home permanently coated in fine black soot, struck up a genuine, warm friendship with a fuller, a craftsman whose entire livelihood depended on cleaning and whitening cloth to a pristine, spotless finish. The two men got along wonderfully whenever they met at the market, sharing meals and easy conversation.

One day, the charcoal-burner, delighted by their growing friendship and thinking it would be pleasant to see each other daily, proposed that the fuller move into his house and share living quarters with him going forward, offering generous terms and genuine warmth in the invitation. The fuller considered the offer seriously for a moment before declining, as gently as he could manage.

"I value our friendship as much as you do," the fuller explained, "but consider what would actually happen the moment I moved in: every piece of cloth I manage to clean and whiten during the day would be blackened again by your soot the very same evening, simply from sharing your walls and your air. This has nothing to do with how much I like you personally — it's simply that our two trades cannot occupy the same space without one constantly undoing the other's work." The charcoal-burner, understanding at once, agreed the friendship was better preserved by living apart, having learned that genuine personal fondness does not always mean two lives can actually be combined without one undoing what the other is trying to build.