There is a story told of a traveler in a far-off land who was a treasure hunter of sorts. What he sought were artifacts that people of different cultures found to be beautiful. He was a wealthy man, and when people with whom he interacted could benefit from receiving cash, he was a generous buyer. Sometimes he found himself bartering with artifacts from his own culture, trading things for things.

On one journey, he came upon a small village where he encountered a woman whose reputation as a possessor of beautiful and valuable stones was widely known throughout the region. He espied one particular stone, magnificently beautiful and, he knew, fabulously valuable at auction back home.

The woman took note of his interest, and she cupped it in her hands, lifting it toward the sun which brought out the brilliance and luster even more.

"Do you speak English?" the man asked.

"Indeed I do," replied the woman."I studied at Oxford for several years and worked in London before I gave up that life for this one."

The man recognized that the woman was fully aware of the value of that beautiful and precious stone, but his wealth gave him confidence that he could meet any price.

"How much do you want for that stone in your hands?" he asked.

"I would not take anything for this stone," replied the woman, and the man was crestfallen.

"But I will give it to you as a gift so that we may both have experience of its beauty," she continued.

The man made appropriate polite protests about how he wanted to pay her, how he could not accept such a...