These stories are Pamela’s re-tellings of the tales from Aesop’s Fables.

The Sun and the Wind

Once upon a time, the Wind set out on a day’s journey with the Sun.  They were having a discussion about life.

The Wind, in his blustery way, said “I am more powerful than you are!”  The Sun laughed, “Are you?” The wind replied, “yes I am and I can prove it.  Do you see that man down there wearing the overcoat? Well, I bet I can get him to take his coat off faster than you can!”

The Sun agreed to engage in the conversation. ” Go ahead, try. See if you can get his coat off.”

The Wind blew and blew, gently, strongly, from different angles, and to no avail. The Man drew his coat closer, tied the belt well, and pulled the collar up around his neck, relying on it to block the wind. Eventually, the Wind sighed, and said, “It didn’t work! What do you know! I guess it’s your turn.”

“Okay,” said the Sun. So he parted the clouds in the sky which the Wind had blown in, and gently warmed up the air. Gradually the man relaxed his hold on his coat, opened a button or two, loosened the belt, and finally took off his coat and carried it on his arm. He smiled up at the sun and said “What a lovely day! Thank you.”

From that time on, the Wind never challenged the Sun again.

Moral: Real healing comes from within. Warm the soul gently and people will choose to heal themselves.

In other words: Love conquers  fear.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Once upon a time, in a small remote village in India, an elephant wandered in for the first time. No one there had ever seen an elephant before. What was this huge creature? The villagers were terrified and astounded and rang the alarm.

In that village there was a circle of wise men who were called upon to provide answers when people had problems and there were disputes to be settled. The wise men assembled together. They happened to be blind, so they could not see the elephant. Blind people explore by touch, so they decided they would each go and touch the elephant, and that way they would learn what it was and figure out where to go from there.

So one by one, they were brought over to the elephant and touched it. Each one happened to go to a different part. One felt a leg, and announced “It is a tree!”. The second, who had felt the ear said,”I declare, this is a thick a leaf!” The third one went over the the side and came back saying, “By my part, it is a wall.” The forth one came upon the tail and so from his perspective, “That’s weird, to me it felt like a rope.” The fifth one felt the trunk and declared, “Oh my friends, you are all wrong, it is a long hose”.

Were any of them wrong? No, but nor did any of them have the whole picture. Together, with one sighted person, they would have had a better sense of the elephant, and still there would be other perspectives.  An elephant, like a person, is a complex being.