The Dragon and the Young Priest
Long ago, on a tall mountain, lived one of
the last of the wise dragons. Every day, this wise dragon would leave its cave
and head down the mountain to a particular clearing about halfway down the
mountain. There, people from around the land could come and ask the dragon
questions, and she would give them her wisdom. From time-to-time people would
even stay on the mountain and train as an apprentice of the wise dragon.
One day, a young priest came to the dragon
with a question so interesting that for years to come, the dragon would tell
her apprentices of it. She would tell of how the young priest stood tall before
her, not with bravery but oblivious of her might,
as he was so enthralled with the puzzle in
his mind. He stood there not truly making eye contact but more absent mindedly
looking at the rising moon, and asked, “How does one find
wisdom?”
The dragon did not even blink before
answering, “By seeking it.”
As if he had been asking himself and had
not even noticed the dragon until now, he
quickly turned his head and took a step
back, saying, “Forgive me, I mean when someone tells you something. How do you
know if it is wisdom, that you should keep or useless words that should not be
repeated lest you become like the fool who first spoke them?”
The wise dragon thought on this for some
time, but the priest did not seem to notice or mind, as he too was lost in
thought trying to find an answer. The silence was finally broken not by the
wise dragon but by the young priest, who said, “I suppose that you would first
test to see if it was true.”
To this, the dragon replied, “That is a
great way of looking at it. Let us create a test by which anyone can judge for
themselves whether some bit of information is wisdom or folly, and as you said,
the first part of the test should be to determine the truthfulness of the
information. Might I suggest that the second part be whether or not the
information is useful?”
To this, the young priest said, “I can
hardly see any wisdom not being of
use. So, your suggestion passes the first
test and therefore was useful, and thus passed the second test. Now let us see
if there is a third test of which we can judge wisdom by?”
With that, both the priest and the dragon
became silent again. It was not until the
moon was high in the night sky, and the
air had become chilled, that the dragon’s
apprentice, a young
human by the name of Noyet, spoke up. “May I pose a third test, master?”
The dragon and the priest both answered
yes at the same time, then gave each other a look and broke out in laughter.
When they had calmed themselves, Noyet continued. “You have always told me that
if something was no good, it was of no use. So, I pose the third test be
whether or not the information is good.
Both the dragon, the priest, and even
Noyet, thought on this for a little while,
and then all agreed that this was a good
start to finding wisdom. That would help any in finding it, but it would take
many more tests to truly determine the true definition of truth, usefulness,
and goodness. But as the dragon would tell
her apprentices when recanting this tale,
those are other stories.
The END
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