One Apple A Day #946 - just a funny story
Yesterday a friend told me a funny story.
The king of a castle is worried that winter may be cold, and he wants to be prepared. So, he asks his servant to gather some wood. However, he really hates the cold and, not sure if the wood will be enough, he asks his servant to walk down to the village and ask the old seer if the winter will be cold or mild.
The servant then walks to the old seer and asks him, "The king wants to know if the winter will be mind or cold".
"Cold!" says the old man with no hesitation.
The servant goes back to the kind with the answer. The king then asks for more wood to be collected and put aside.
However, still worried it may not be enough, he sends back the servant to the old seer to ask if the winter will be cold or really cold.
Again, the servant walks to the old man and asks, "will the winter be cold or really cold?"
"Really cold!" says the old man.
Once he gets the answer, the king asks for more wood. But then he sends back the servant to ask if the winter will be really cold or really really cold.
Once again, the servant approaches the old seer and asks, "will the winter be really cold or really really cold?"
"Really, really cold!"
Once the king hears the answer, he asks for even more woods.
But, still worried, he sents the servant back to the old seer.
This back and forth goes on for a while until the castle is full of wood in preparation for a really really "really, really, really, really cold" winter.
Now very curious, the king asks his servant to go back to the old seer and ask him what his secret is. How does he predict that the winter will be so cold?
The servant goes back to the old seer and asks him: "How do you know that the winter will be so cold?"
The old seer, pointing his finger toward the castle, answers, "look, they continue to pile a lot of wood up at the castle, so it must surely be a freezing winter."
As for many funny stories, there is also a great lesson here.
How often do I get trap in self-feeding cycles?
I often do I ask questions only to get the answer I want to hear?