Wisdom of the dragon 2-10
The Dragon and the
Queen
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, many 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.
The kings and queens that ruled the city
in the valley below the mountain often came to ask the dragon for her wisdom on
issues of state. At this time, the valley was ruled by Queen Sali. A young but
wise queen who listened to her people’s wants and needs and tried to help her
people wherever she could.
One cloudy afternoon, Queen Sali came to
the wise dragon and asked the following question.
“Oh, wise guide to all that ask. I stand
before you with great sadness,
for my people cry out, asking me to build
a canal from the river to the city
so that they need not walk the miles each
day to the farmland to gather water.
I would do this, for their plight is just
and I wish to lessen their daily work, but the master of the waterways says
that if I do this it will lessen the water that flows to the croplands and the
produce will suffer. By extension, the people will then suffer as prices for
food will certainly rise. How can I help the people when both options cause
suffering?”
The wise dragon thought for a long time on
this and then finally spoke.
“You are truly a compassionate and
sensible ruler. If you have the funds within the
kingdom to bring the water from the river
to the city, and the master of waterways
has the wisdom to know that this will hurt
your croplands, then surely one of you must know that the water that falls on
the city from the sky is the same water that falls on the river to make its
banks swell with its life-giving goodness?”
Queen Sali thought for a second, then
responded, “I had not thought of that,
but
I do see how that is true. I am sorry, though, I do not see how knowing this
helps my people’s plight?”
The wise dragon looked a little surprised
that the queen had not made the connection between what she had said and the
solution to her problem. Then, after a moment of clarifying her thoughts in her
head, the wise dragon responded.
“If
it is the same water that falls on the city as the river, can you not use the
same funds that you would have built a canal with to now build some way to
collect and store the water as it falls from the sky before it
rolls down your streets and across the ground to the river? So, would not this
be the same as bringing the river to the people, as it is the same water the
river has within it?”
Queen Sali thought about this and was very
pleased, for she knew that the dragon had given her a solution to her people’s
troubles.
Before she left to go put into action what
she had learned, the wise dragon spoke one more time to her, saying.
“Remember, all the water that falls from
the sky on your land is yours to use.
Use
it wisely.”
THE END
