Theme: Action and Reaction
The mountain boy
There was a shepherd who every day took his sheep to
graze in a very beautiful valley, from where he could
see the mountains.
One day the pastor woke up feeling
sick and tired. Thus, he asked his son Hugo to take the
animals out to graze.
The young man obeyed. He released the
sheep and they walked with him to the place indicated by
the father. But Hugo was not used to that task. He found
it tiring and time consuming to have to walk so much.
He was already annoyed when he
tripped and fell, yelling nervously:
- Crap!
Then he heard a voice repeat what he
had said. The voice came from far away, probably from
the mountains.
Hugo didn't like to hear it. He got
irritated. Was it someone who was making fun of his
tumble and his scream?
- Who's there? - shout Hugo,
irritated.
- Who's there? - the voice asked.
And then the dialogue began:
- I asked first! - shouted Hugo.
- I asked first!
- It was me, not you!
- It was me, not you!
- Stubborn! - shouted Hugo angrily.
- Stubborn!
- You are very boring!
- You are very boring!
Hugo couldn't take it anymore. He
called the sheep and went away, grumpy.
Arriving home, Hugo told his father
what had happened. He said that a very rude boy in the
mountains had teased him and made fun of him.
Hugo's father listened to him calmly
because he had already understood what happened.
The next day the father was better,
but he asked his son to accompany him anyway.
The two then went with the sheep to
the same place where Hugo had been the day before.
As soon as they arrived, the father
spoke aloud:
- Hello!
And the voice that came from the
mountains answered in the distance:
- Hello!
- Glad you're there, my friend! -
said Hugo's father kindly.
And he heard the same kindness. He
continued saying friendly phrases and hearing the voice
return him in the same tone. Hugo was surprised and
said:
— Today the boy from the mountain is
even nice. But yesterday he just told me nonsense and
made me angry. I don't think he likes me, only you.
Hugo's father then explained to him
that there were no boys in the mountains. The voice he
heard was the echo of his own voice.
Hugo was startled. He didn't know
about this phenomenon. But he did some tests and saw
that the father was right. The voice always repeated
what came from himself.
- Interesting, isn't it, son? Echo is
very useful, as it makes us realize what we are offering
to the world, through our tone of voice and our words.
Normally, other people are the ones who listen to what
comes out of our mouths and not ourselves. And the most
interesting thing is that life is also like that. What
we do comes back to us. If we project bad things with
our words, feelings, and actions, we get bad things back
too. But if we send good and kind gestures to the world,
that's what life will give back to us too. Do you
understand son?
Hugo looked thoughtful and shook his
head, showing that he understood. Amazed, he realized
that the boy he thought was rude didn't live in the
mountains. It was himself.
Time passed and Hugo grew up, but
this teaching remained in his mind: life is like an
echo, it always gives back what comes out of ourselves.
And that helped him to be a much better and happier
person.
Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com
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