A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after

another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.



Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a

young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he

immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to

bottom.



Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would

know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his

bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something.

Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer

away. The engine was fixed!



A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten

thousand rand.



"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"

So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized

bill."



The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer...... ......... ........ R 2.00 Knowing where to

tap.......... ......... ...... R 9, 998.00



Moral of the Story: Effort is important, but knowing where to make an

effort makes all the difference!