A little girl was playing outside, straying further away from her home. She came across a small clearing with a cute fence encircling something. Curious, she climbed atop a small guardian statue and peered over the fence. There was a huge hole six feet across. In the little girl's amazement she dropped her toy rag doll into the hole, scampered down the statue and toppled it over, and ran away.
Soon word spread about the curious, sacred hole in the clearing. The people in the village came to drop rocks into the hole. No one ever heard the rocks land at the bottom. How deep was this curious hole? It became the talk of the village.
Word of the sacred hole spread to the nearest big city, and surveyors came to climb inside the hole and see how deep it went. The big-shot city people tore down the fence. They climbed down the hole a long ways, but despite their equipment and powerful lighting, they could not see the bottom of the hole. The city people were both shocked and amazed. Even the scientists were baffled by the hole.
The city people made a deal with the people of the quaint village to both study the hole and make use of it. Soon there were city people marching into the village with loads of cargo. They would dump their cargo in the curious, sacred hole. The torn fence was collected and removed, but the small guardian statue lay toppled over and ignored nearby.
The village people said that the hole was miraculous. And why not? It had brought their village small fame and good fortune. The deal with the city people was prosperous for the villagers. There was now a lavish inn to house the city people and a giant clock tower was built in the village square. Husbands brought home silk scarves for their wives and chocolate bars for their children. The best part was that the hole appeared to be endless – no matter what anyone dropped into the hole, she never heard it hit the bottom.
Now the village is no more – in its place is a city with towering skyscrapers. The only remains of the village is a cobblestone road leading to the diminished clock tower.
On another hot, smoggy day, the city people are going about business as usual. This morning a construction worker squints up at the piercing grey sky and sees something tiny fall through the air. A toy rag doll lands on the cobblestone road in front of the clock tower.
The End.
A little bit haunting, don't you think? I paraphrased this from what I remember reading in class. Don't remember who wrote it...
UPDATE (2/27/10): Thank you, Taku, for finding the original story and author! The story is called "Oi, Detekoi" by the Japanese science fiction pioneer Shinichi Hoshi. Taku also sent a link to a cute animated video of the story on Youtube.