A man has a paintbrush. He is not good at painting and he is approached by another man. He asks the man with the paintbrush if he could borrow his, since he is lacking one. The man with the paintbrush agrees to lend it to this man. This second man was a talented painter, and he created masterpiece painting.

When others see this work of art and are amazed, the first man in his envy states "The artist would have amounted to nothing without me! I gave him the paintbrush!"