Aboriginals
It
was April and the Aboriginals in a remote part of Northern
Australia asked
their new elder if the coming winter was going to be cold
or mild.
Since
he was an elder in a modern community he had never been taught the
old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn’t tell what the
winter was going to be like.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe
side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold
and that the members of the tribe should collect firewood to be
prepared.
But being a practical leader, after several days he had
an idea.
He walked out to the telephone booth on the highway,
called the Bureau of Meteorology and asked, ‘Is the coming winter in
this area going to be cold?’
The meteorologist responded, ‘It
looks like this winter is going to be quite cold.’
So the elder
went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in
order to be prepared.
A week later he called the Bureau of
Meteorology again. ‘Does it still look like it is going to be a very
cold winter?’
The meteorologist again replied, ‘Yes, it’s going
to be a very cold winter.’
The elder again went back to his
community and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they
could find.
Two weeks later the elder called the Bureau again.
‘Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?’
he asked.
‘Absolutely,’ the man replied. ‘It’s looking more and
more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters
ever.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ the elder asked.
The
weatherman replied, ‘Our satellites have reported that the
Aboriginals in the north are collecting firewood like crazy, and
that’s always a sure sign.’
Tags: Aboriginals
