The Rock

“Who is the best swordsman?” asked a warrior to his master.

“Go to the field near the monastery,” his master answered. “There is a rock there. I want you to insult the rock.”

“But why would I do that?” the disciple asked. “The rock will not respond.”

“Well, then attack it with your sword,” the master said.

“I won’t do that, either,” the disciple answered. “My sword would break. And if I attack the rock with my hands, I’ll injure my fingers and have no impact on it. That wasn’t what I asked. Who is the best swordsman?”

“The best is the one who is like the rock,” said his master. “Without unsheathing a sword, it demonstrates that no one can conquer it.”

The Hare And The Tortoise

A hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue. Slow but steady wins the race.

-Aesop's Fable

The Dog And The Shadow

A dog, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.

-Aesop's Fable

The Ass And The Grasshopper

An ass having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, "The dew." The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time starved to death.

-Aesop's Fable 

Plunge

She was on the beach with her father, and he asked her to go and see what the temperature of the water was like. She was five years old and glad to be able to help. She went to the water’s edge and dipped in a toe.

 “I put my feet in and it’s cold,” she told him. 

Her father picked her up and carried her down to the water again and, without any warning, threw her in. She was shocked at first, but then laughed out loud at the trick he’d played.

 “How’s the water?” asked her father.

 “It’s lovely,” she replied.

 “Right, from now on, whenever you want to find out about something, plunge straight in.”

- Extracted from Brida By Paulo Coelho