(This story is self-explanatory ;-)

Once upon a time, many hundreds of years ago, there was a man walking along the beach. This adamant man walked the beach many times and saw every day how the ocean extinguished the sun, bringing darkness to the world. He knew that water extingusihes a torch and clearly saw this process at work as the sun dipped into the sea.

Well, this man was a thinker! He was very bright and suddenly realized that the sea needed to be emptied! He realized, that if everyone would carry away all the water from the ocean in buckets, the bright flames that burned in the sky would never be extinguished again. He figured it might take him a few years, but if he could convince the other villagers to help him, it would go much faster and perhaps within a few weeks the task would be done.

He grabbed a bucket and filled it with sea water and carried it a distance and then dumped it out to return for more. Some curious children asked what he was doing and he told them, "I'm getting rid of the water from the sea so the burning fire in the sky never goes out. We will have only day. No one will ever be cold again and our crops will never freeze!" The children were impressed by the man's logic and reasoning and could find no flaw in it. So they each ran home and grabbed a bucket to join the man in emptying the sea.

Their parents later came home from the fields and jobs and spotted the children down by the shore. They told their parents how they were going to save the world from darkness and cold. They listened and tried to find a flaw in the logic, but couldn't. So some of them, even though they were tired, spent some time carrying buckets from the sea.

This went on for days and weeks. The man was still adamant, even though the children returned to their play after the first week. Many were frustrated, but the man never relented. He spoke with fervor about the future and he added a new element - fear. "One day," he said "a new ball of fire may not emerge and ascend and the world, and everyone in it will freeze!" This prophecy was spread far and wide and all along the coastline of the land were hundreds of people carry ing buckets of water away from the sea. New bodies replaced the ones tired and worn out. Others didn't believe the adamant man and said that if this were true our ancestors would have known about it. These disbelievers were scorned and chased out of the village allowing the water carriers to continue their work unperturbed by disbelief.

Years went by, and many had given up, discouraged, but always others who had not yet heard the tale could be convinced to take their place. The adamant man grew old, weary and bitter. He never doubted his ideas and blamed the failure of his plan on a lack of people. If everyone in all lands could be forced to carry the water then it would be solved! The man stopped his work long enough to seek out the king and get him to decree that EVERYONE must carry buckets from the sea. The king was a wise man and said, "I will decree as you wish. For one year, every man, woman and child of able body in this land shall, from dawn to dusk, empty the sea with buckets. However, if I do not see any results, I will not renew this decree."

So for one year thousands upon thousands of men, women and children carried buckets from the sea. The children were the least happy. After a few months no one could see a difference, though the adamant man regularly announced, "It's working! It looks lower today!" and rallied the masses to renew their efforts.

The children realized it was a lie. "It's not making a difference" they whispered under their breath. But none dared to say it aloud or risk being cuffed.

After a year many fields lay untended, the people hungry and exhausted hat set in and the winter was bitter. Many died of exhaustion and exposure and the weathered people were very unhappy.

The king wisely lived up to his word. The decree was not renewed and what's more the adamant man was banished from the land. No one knew what happened to him as he left, angry and contemptful of all those who went back to their normal lives and said he didn't know what he was talking about.

It's just hearsay, but many travelers, say they had seen him in other lands, very old and that wherever he was people could be seen carrying buckets from the sea.

THE END

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