The Damaged Idol

There once lived a sculptor in a small town. He was working on a huge idol of a goddess for the local temple, when a young woman walked into his workshop. As she marveled at his work, she noticed another idol, almost identical, lying on the ground. ‘Do you need two of these?’ she asked. ‘No,’ came the reply. ‘We only need one. But the first one got damaged in the finishing stages. Hence I am doing it again.’ The young woman looked closely at the idol on the ground. It looked perfect. She could not see any signs of damage. ‘Where is the flaw?’ she asked. ‘Look carefully,’ said the sculptor, ‘and you will notice a scratch under the left eye.’ ‘Wait a minute!’ said the young woman. ‘Where will this idol be installed?’ The sculptor explained that it would be installed on a fifteen-foot-high platform inside the temple. The woman quickly retorted, ‘At that distance, who will know there is a scratch beneath the eye?’ The sculptor smiled, took a deep breath and said, ‘I will.