“... Mark includes this as the conclusion to the thorny ground, however, and Thomas has there instead his distinctive ‘and worms ate them (the seeds)’. The question of location is significant. Given that the good soil does produce a harvest it is natural to parallel this earlier in the parable. The change of location could therefore be either a literary change or an oral variation. [...] The sections regarding the thorns are quite similar. Both Mark and Thomas have the key action of choking out the seed. In place of the thorns growing up Thomas notes that the worms ate the seed. This is a strange motif given that the choking thistles have already killed off the sprouting plants. The rationale for the image is found in such texts as Isa. 66.24 and Mk 9.48. Thomas uses this image at the conclusion to the parable of the Pearl (logion 76). In other words, mention of the worm seems ‘forced and unnatural’. [...] The conclusion in Thomas is significant: it lacks the ascending progression in triadic form. Indeed, although literary critics make much of this triad, Mark is the only version with this feature. Matthew, Luke and Thomas all differ at this point. The exact triadic parallel between unfruitful and fruitful seed, therefore, is attested by only one version of the parable. ...”