Once upon a time there was a boat. It wasn't a particularly attractive boat; just a boat. The boat lay on the ground next to a beautiful and strong river. But the boat could never get into the river because it was stuck on the shore.
One day a man walked by and when he saw the boat he said, "wow! that's not much of a boat, but oh boy the things I could do to make that into a spectacular boat!" So the man got all of his money and bought the boat. Brimming with joy, he immediately slid the boat into the water. Now the boat was alive! It was going to finally fulfill its purpose! But as the man hopped into the boat, he realized that it was tethered by several thick, strong ropes along one side each tied to a large iron stake driven deep into the ground on the shore. The man thought to himself, "this just won't do. I can't do anything with this boat if it's still attatched to the shore." So the man took out a knife and, starting from the sternmost rope, began cutting. With the removal of each rope, all the other ropes grew more and more tense and held on tighter and tighter to fight the strong power of the river's current. As the man began to cut the final rope away, the tension was great and the boat was swaying side to side in the river's current, but as the man cut the rope all the tension dissappeared and the boat flowed smoothly in the river's current. The man steered the boat down the powerful river, and they had many wonderful adventures together.
|
