Wednesday 22 March 2017

Water is stronger than Stone

AS a little experiment I have tried to write a few fable type, traditional stories. This is the first one. 
Audio to follow.
A long time ago, there lived an old wise man, who had a long, long, long grey beard. He was known throughout the land as the Wise One. The Wise One had one son who instead of growing up to be wise like him, was something of a fool who didn’t really understand how the world worked. Despite his best efforts and teachings, the Wise One couldn’t pass on his knowledge to his son, who soon became known as the Foolish One. But the Wise One never gave up. 
 One day the Wise One and the Foolish One were out walking through the countryside when they went under an overhanging cliff where water was dropping onto a stone. 
“Who is more powerful,” the Wise One asked, “the water or the stone?”
The Foolish One considered this for a moment and then replied. 
“Well, the stone is more powerful, father. Look how strong it is. The water can never affect it.”
“Think again my son; the water can destroy that stone.” 
The boy watched the stone for a short while. The drip, drip, drip of water was having no effect on it. He looked at his father and then walked off. 
“You need to have patience,” the old man said. But the boy dismissed him with a wave of his hand. 
The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, the months into years and one day the old man and his son returned to the spot. 
“See father,” the Foolish One said, “the water still drips but the stone remains strong.” The Wise One watched the water drip. 
“Time will tell,” he said. 
“I don’t have time.”
The Foolish One ran to the stream, he took a bucket of water and threw it over the stone. 
“See father, nothing changes.”
“You need to have patience,” the old man said. But the boy dismissed him with a wave of his hand. 
The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, the months into years and one day the old man and his son returned to the spot. 
The Wise One was now very old, his beard very long and very grey. The Foolish One looked at the stone and said. 
“You see father…” but before he could finish his sentence he saw that the stone now had a hole in it. “Father you were right,”
The father said nothing. He just smiled.
“Which drop was the strongest?” he asked his father.
“Each drop is neither stronger or weaker than the previous or the next. Alone they are feeble, but together they are strong.” The last breath left the Wise One’s body as soon as he’d finished speaking. 
As for the Foolish One, well he grew wise with age and was soon known as the New Wise One.

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