I was convinced it was Buddha, but can't find it. Also tried Confucious. Poorly remembered summary: Wise man encounters sweeper. Or maybe he takes a turn at sweeping. Is derision of sweeping as a profession. End result is that sweeping is a form of service or even prayer. Any ideas?

It's not the same story, but it sounds like a similar kind of plot. Except there's money involved. so perhaps it's not similar. Gah. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tikkabilla/stories/rupee.shtml The parable you're looking for might be an indian story, as sweeping seems to be a job reserved for "untouchables" and, having just had a quick google, there are a lot of references to sweepers.

Neat story, and many thanks, but not the one I was looking for. And, yep, might have been Indian story. Finally found something similar: If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. - Martin Luther King Jr. Sigh. I remember it being a really nice story, too.

Originally posted by meridianday It's not the same story, but it sounds like a similar kind of plot. Except there's money involved. so perhaps it's not similar. Gah. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tikkabilla/stories/rupee.shtml

Blimey, cbeebies are getting serious aren't there?