It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new
Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian
Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets and,
when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going
to be.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the
winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village
should collect wood to be prepared. But also, being a practical leader,
he decided to seek advice from experts.
He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and
asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the
meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more
wood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National
Weather Service again. "Is it still going to be a cold winter?" he asked.
"Yes," the man at the National Weather Service again replied, "it's
going to be a very cold winter.
The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect
every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you
absolutely sure that this winter is going to be very cold?" he asked
for a third time.
"Absolutely," the weatherman replied. "In fact, it's going to be one of
coldest winters ever!"
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are gathering wood like crazy |
