Chapter Seven
Now, while The Old Fox waited, he had many thoughts, many
questions. And as he slept, his brother came to him in his dreams
and answered him. "My brother," asked The Old Fox,
"you taught me that we must control our emotions, but what
emotions are we to control, and how are we to control them?"
2 And his brother answered in this way. "We speak of all
emotions. Any emotion carried to extreme is not beneficial to
you. And, any emotion totally ignored can do you harm. Let us
give you an example. We will tell you a story, and that story
will teach you a lesson. You will find that this is a good way to
teach our people, for they might not understand what you are
saying, but they will see the example in the story.
3 Now, there are three rich men in the city, and each rich man
has three wives. And one of their wives, their favorite, dies.
4 Now, the first man mourns bitterly day and night. He shows his
grief at her funeral with much wailing and many tears. And even
after her body is put to rest he continues to show his grief. He
uses his wives bitterly, goes to the house of pleasure almost
nightly, does not heed the good advice of his neighbors. His
business becomes poor until finally he cannot pay his debts, and
all he has is sold for restitution. He dies penniless.
5 Now, the second man shows calm at his wife's funeral, accepts
the sympathies of his friends with kindness. Not until he returns
home in the seclusion of his dead wife's room, does he weep. Now,
even though he grieves, he sees to the needs of his other wives
and maintains his business. And in time, there is a young widow
whom he takes as mate. Though his house is never as happy as
before, it is happy, and he cherishes the memory of his loved
one.
6 Now, the third man shows no emotion at all. He grieves like a
stone. His loss is so great to him, that he secludes himself,
forsaking his wives, giving his business over to his relatives.
He joins an order and forsakes the outside world, and dies in sad
loneliness. Now, my brother, I ask you...which was the wisest
man? Who dealt best with grief?"
7 "Now, I would say the middle man," The Old Fox told
him, "he did not show too much emotion, nor did he show too
little emotion. He chose the middle path."
8 "You are learning, my brother! Now, I will give you
another example.
9 Now, there is a great kingdom, and the king of this kingdom is
on the southern half of his land with a third of his army when an
old enemy suddenly crosses his borders and attacks him, and cuts
him off from the rest of his kingdom. Now, his first born is
rushing to his aid, but the wise king knows that in the morning
his enemy will overwhelm him, and he will be destroyed. 10 So he
calls together his soldiers and speaks to them. "There is no
hope," he said," If we surrender the enemy will kill
us. If we fight, also, we will die. But I say it is better to die
fighting than the enemey's captive. They are five times our
number, but in the morning we can make a good account of
ourselves, make them pay dearly for our blood. For each of us,
let ten of them fall. Let their victory cost them so much, that
when our brethren arrive from the north, the victory will be
theirs. I expect each man to do their duty." 11 Now three of
the king's soldiers heard his words, and were filled with fear.
They were all afraid to die. They all desired again to see their
loved ones, and to live out their lives. 12 Now the first soldier
said 'I will be brave. In the morning I will throw myself upon
the enemy and die well.' And that he did, and fell three of the
enemy before he fell. 13 Now, the second soldier said, 'I will be
brave, I will meet the enemy but as long as I can, I will give
ground, make the enemy come to me and slay as many of them as I
can before I fall." And this he did. And in the morning ten
of the enemy fell with him, plus a score more were wounded.
14 Now the third man could not control his fear, and in the mid
of the night tried to sneak through the enemy and was killed by a
throwing spear, in the back. Now, my brother, I ask you, which
man won his battle?"
15 The Old Fox thought a moment. "The first man," he
said, "was brave but foolish. The second man was brave but
wise. The third man was both a coward and a fool. Again it was
the middle man that was the wisest."
16 "Correct, my brother," answered his teacher.
"Do you begin to see?" 17 "Yes," The Old Fox
replied, "the key word in what you teach is control. We
cannot surrender to our emotions, nor can we cast them off. It is
only by controlling them that we win." 18 "You learn
well, indeed, my brother!" smiled his kinsman.
19 "My brother," asked The Old Fox, "you say we
must put ourselves last, that Law and family must come first.
Does that mean we are to give up everything to the will of
others?"
20 No, my brother, such is not the case. We must first look to
see if what we are doing is just or unjust, whether it is right
in the eyes of The Law. Then, we must decide if it is good for
our family. Even if it is lawful some act may cause such
discourse with our brothers and sisters that it would be better
that we not do it.
21 Thirdly, even though something may be lawful, it may well be
harmful if we do it. This is the order in which we decide things.
How they are decided is up to the individual. But we must
remember that The Law comes before both ourselves and our
families. We must sometimes suffer hurt and offend the ones we
love to do what is right. It is not an easy thing, but it is
so."
22 "My brother," asked The Old Fox, "you have said
that we are responsible for our own acts. But what if someone
else encourages us to do evil? Are they not responsible for the
evil deeds?"
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