The North Wind boasted of his great strength. "With one powerful icy breath, I can make animals scurry," he said, "and make cities come to a standstill. I can toss around the ships at sea and whip the oceans to a frenzy. My power is so great that I can make bears hibernate, people run for shelter and tear roofs off of buildings."
The Sun smiled. "There is great power in gentleness," he said. "The forces of great wind and destruction are not what makes for great strength. The gentle force of persuasion is what commands the greatest power."
The North Wind scoffed at this.
"Ah, my passive friend," he said, "little do you know of the power of brute force over every living thing. Your benign spirit cannot begin to match a tumult that cannot be denied."
"Here, he said, "let's have ourselves a little contest."
"Below I see a journeyer on his way to a village. He is traveling with his mule and wearing a coat. Let us use him as our test.
"The first to remove his tunic shall be the winner."
Again, The Sun just smiled.
"Be my guest," he said, "and show me your powers."
"Delighted," said The North Wind and at once began sending down upon the road a strong icy blast of wind. The traveler at once was shocked by the sudden change in temperature and hurried to find shelter behind a tree.
The great North Wind blew stronger, sending dust into the air, leaves scurrying off the branches of the trees, animals hurrying to their dens and people to their homes.
The temperature dropped as the North Wind blew stronger and yet stronger.
The man drew his coat around himself ever tighter as the cold and wind tore at his feet and made the tree at his back tremble.
For long hours, The North Wind continued his assault but the man and his beast only huddled up and the man wrapped himself tighter in his coat.
Finally, exhausted, The North Wind relented and The Sun asked "shall I give it a try, now?"
Annoyed but tired, The North Wind agreed and The Sun parted the clouds and stilled the winds.
He did nothing else.
The Sun shone bright upon the villages and farms and roads below.
The animals came out of their dens, the people from their houses, the birds from their roosts and the man from behind the tree.
Seeing that the storm had seemed to pass, the man began to continue his journey and quickly discovered that he was growing quite warm. He pulled up his mule beside him, opened his pack, removed his coat and placed it out of the way.
The North Wind growled at this, knowing that his power could not remove the man's coat by brute force but The Sun did it quickly and without even making a fuss.
"Okay," grumbled The North Wind. "You win this time, but I think it was mostly luck."
"Not at all," beamed The Sun. "Through the strength of gentleness I got my way.
"The greatest power is the power of gentle persuasion."
And thus it has always been.
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Great strength can make people cower in fear but a warm and gentle manner will always win out.
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My mother had several big books of Fables, Fairy Tales and Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories which she read to me each night as my brother and I called it a day.
ReplyDeleteI remember so many of those stories but, alas, the books themselves have crumbled with the dusts of time. They only remain in my memory.
I was reminded of this story when hearing about the change in foreign policy attempted by the Obama administration in its dealings with Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. After tearing countries to shreds, perhaps it's time we let The Sun work its magic on the world.