The Sage (standard:fantasy, 481 words)
Author: Armadillo woman	Added: Dec 11 2005	Views/Reads: 3238/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
To find what you really need, first you must realize what it is that you lack.

The Sage sat alone on the hilltop overlooking the world below. She was
visited often by friends and strangers who sought her wisdom. 

However, so very deep and dark were her own secrets, that her eyes, now
clouded over with blindness, were no longer able to look within her own 
soul. Her only joy came from helping others, then being left alone. 

One day when the Wind came by for a visit, as he often did, he asked the
old woman what she would wish for if she had only one wish which was 
certain to be granted. The old woman thought for a time and replied, "I 
would wish for what I need most." Then the Wind, thinking that was 
indeed a strange wish, went away. And again the old woman was left 
alone. 

The next morning the old woman arose to the gentle sounds of an infant
softly mewing from a basket on the front stoop. Quite concerned, the 
old woman took the infant into her home to tend to it; thinking surely 
whoever left it there would return soon to claim it. 

The infant, a baby girl, grew over the months and years, and no one
seemed to know to whom she rightfully belonged. 

As a child can be, she was often demanding and cranky, but just as often
loving and giving. She would help the old woman with the household 
chores and bring her peace as evening would fall and loneliness would 
have normally settled upon the hearth. 

The old woman continued to advise all who would ask of her. But still
within her own heart where troubling thoughts. Until one day the child 
was finally grown into a lovely young woman; with hair of gold, eyes 
the color of the sky, and skin with the beauty of fine porcelain. 

That evening the young woman said to the old woman, "Why are your eyes
so clouded over with blindness to the needs of your own soul when you 
have the ability to help so many others?" 

Truly the old woman had no answer to this question, for no one had ever
asked her this before. She thought about this for days and days, when 
finally one day the Wind stopped by for a long-awaited visit. 

The old woman said, "Wind, why have you been gone so long?" The Wind
replied, "I have been serching the whole world over to find you that 
one thing you need; that I might fulfill your only wish". 

Suddenly the old woman knew the answer to the young woman's question.
"Wind," she said, "I already have the one thing I need. She came to me 
the night you left on your quest. She has brought me love and 
happiness, and has started me thinking about the condition of my own 
soul. And this was surely the one thing I needed." 

The end 


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