The Four Wise People
Adapted by Jim Cyr from Spinning Tales Weaving Hope
Once upon a time in India there lived four wise people. Three of them read and read and read. They never talked to anyone. They asked no questions. They just stayed in the house and read.
But the fourth wise person often spent her afternoons walking the streets talking with people about all sorts of things. She talked about gardening and farming and what was happening in the village. She asked many questions and considered the answers she heard carefully.
The other three wise people laughed at the fourth calling her a fool for wasting so much time talking and asking questions.
After many years, the three wise people who never talked to anyone or asked questions decided they wanted to test their knowledge. So they packed their things and told the fourth wise person of their plans. They all journeyed to a faraway land. When they arrived they asked the people to give them a test for their knowledge.
The people pointed to a path and said, “Down that path, behind that tree, you will find the test you are looking for.” So off went the four wise people down the path.
When they reached the tree the first wise person looked behind it and saw a pile of bones. “That’s an easy trick. I can shape these bones into the lion it once was. Bone by bone he shaped and formed the skeleton of the animal. When he was finished he stood back and smiled. “Now I will become famous! That is a perfect lion’s skeleton!”
The second wise person looked at the skeleton and said, “That’s no big deal. I can put fur on the skeleton to make it look exactly like the lion it once was.”
And he carefully set to work using his knowledge of taxidermy to put tendons, muscles, and fur on the skeleton. When he was finished he stepped back and grinned. “Now I will become the most famous of all wise people. Look at that lion. He is so real he looks like he could breathe.”
When he saw the lion, the eyes of the oldest of the wise people lit up. I know how we can really test our knowledge and be remembered throughout history. With my knowledge and your help, we can breathe the breath of life into this lion. We must work very hard and very quickly, before night falls so that we don’t have to waste another night.”
By now the fourth wise person was looking quite worried. “Wait a minute. I don’t think that it is a very wise thing you are doing—breathing the breath of life into a lion!”
The third wise person said, “Of course it is!” and set to work. The fourth wise person scampered up a tree and found a safe limb. Nothing she said from her perch on the branch persuaded them to stop.
The three wise people set up their equipment and chemicals and used all their knowledge to breathe the breath of life into the body of that lion. After a time, the lion began to move its legs, turn its head, and then it opened its mouth to breathe. All at once, in a quick three seconds, in a flurry of motion and dust—GULP— the three wise people became the lion’s first meal.
The fourth wise person didn’t move from the tree, but carefully watched as the tiger sauntered up the hill. Only then did the fourth wise person come down from the tree, taking with her the most important wisdom of all: common sense.