Getting the Coconuts Home

6 Getting the Coconuts Home Sometimes when people speak, their words become a riddle, and are not easily understood. A man who made his living gathering coconuts in the countryside learned this lesson when he stopped to ask a young boy how long it would take him to get home. He had been working late gathering coconuts and piling them high on his wagon. Towards the end of the day, his wagon was filled to the brim with coconuts. He decided to head home, for it was getting late. He wished to know how long it would take to get back to his village so that he could arrive before darkness fell. He noticed a small boy along the roadside and stopped to ask for directions. “ Young boy, " he said, “ I am late and I must get home soon. How long will it take to get to my village from here?"

The boy answered, “ If you go slowly, it will take only a short while for you to get home. But if you go quickly, it will take a long time and you will not get there until late in the night. " The coconut gatherer thought about this answer, but he could not understand it. He gave the boy an angry look and hit his horse with the whip. The horse began to run quickly. But soon, coconuts began to fall from the wagon. Each time, the man got off to gather the fallen coconuts and put them back into his wagon. The faster he went, the more coconuts fell from his wagon, and the more time he had to take stopping to pick them up. But, if he had travelled slowly, none of the coconuts would have fallen, and the man would have arrived home much earlier. And so, as the young boy warned, go slowly and it will take only a short while.