Old but still good.
An Indian shaman dies. His only student isn’t very good but he can’t let his people down, so when they ask him if snow is coming he says to them, “I must go and speak with the spirits. All of you cut firewood until I get back, just in case.”
And so the whole tribe begins cutting wood and the new shaman goes to “talk with the spirits” by walking through the woods, crossing the highway, finding a payphone and calling the weather service.
“Will it snow soon?” he asks.
“Yes,” they reply, and it looks like it’ll be very bad.
So he crosses back over the highway and through the woods back to his tribe.
“The spirits have spoken!” he says. “The snow will be coming soon and be very bad. We must prepare and cut more lumber!”
For the next week the tribe works night and day cutting firewood. But no snow comes and they approach the new shaman again.
“We see no signs of snow” they exclaimed.”The spirits must be wrong. Please go and make sure they really said it would snow.”
“I will go and speak with the spirits again. All of you cut firewood until I get back, just in case.” And so the whole tribe continues cutting wood and the new shaman goes to “talk with the spirits” by walking through the woods, crossing the highway, finding a payphone and calling the weather service again.
“Are you sure it will snow soon?” he asks.
“Yes” they reply, and it looks like it’ll be very bad, much worse than we thought last week.”
So he crosses back over the highway and through the woods back to his tribe.
“It will be a terrible snowstorm! We must work harder to ensure our survival this winter!” he said to the tribe. And so the tribe worked even harder, clearing the land for firewood, but still no snow.
A week later the tribe approach the shaman again.
“Surely this must be enough firewood, we’ve cut down so many of our trees and still no snow. Please make sure the spirits are correct.”
“I must go and speak with the spirits again. All of you cut firewood until I get back, just in case.” And so the whole tribe begins cutting more wood and the new shaman goes to “talk with the spirits” by walking through the woods, crossing the highway, finding a payphone and calling the weather service.
“Are you 100% positive it will snow soon?” he asks.
“Yes, dreadfully bad! Impossibly bad!” they reply.
“How can you tell it will be so bad?” he asks
“Well, our maps don’t show a cloud in the sky, but the local Indian tribe has cut down half a damn forest for firewood!”
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