A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. The Lord said to the man, “Come, I will show you hell.” They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arms that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.

“Come, now I will show you heaven.” The Lord said after a while. They entered another room, identical — the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handle spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

“I don’t understand,” said the man. “Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?” The Lord smiled. “Ah, it is simple,” he said. “Here they have learned to feed each other.”

一个人在和上帝谈论天堂与地狱。上帝对这个人说：“跟我来，我要让你看看地狱是什么样。” 他们进入一个房间，那儿有一群人围着一个大锅炖肉坐着。个个都面黄肌瘦、神情绝望、快要饿死的样子。每个人手里都拿一把能够得着锅里肉的勺子，但每把勺子的柄都比他们的胳膊长得太多，他们无法用这把勺子把肉送进自己的嘴里。这种折磨真是太可怕了。
“来，我再带你去看看天堂。”过了一会，上帝说。他们进入了另一个房间，和第一个房间一模一样-----一大锅肉、一群人、把柄同样长的勺子。但是，这儿人人都很快乐，养得白白胖胖的。
“我真不明白，”那个人说。“两个房间其他都一模一样，为什么这儿的人这么快乐而那个房间的人那么悲惨？” 上帝笑了.“呃，很简单，”他说:“这里的人学会了相互喂食。”