The North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was the stronger. While they were disputing with much heat and bluster, a young man passed along the road wrapped in a coat.
“Let us agree,” said the Sun, “that he is the stronger who can strip that Traveler of his coat.”
“Very well,” growled the North Wind, and at once sent a cold, howling blast against the Traveler.
With the first gust of wind the ends of the coat whipped about the young man’s body. But he immediately wrapped it closely around him, and the harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it to him. The North Wind tore angrily at the coat, but all his efforts were in vain.
Then the Sun began to shine. At first his beams were gentle, and in the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind, the young man unfastened his coat and let it hang loosely from his shoulders.
The Sun’s rays grew warmer and warmer. The traveler took off his handkerchief and mopped his brow. At last he became so heated that he pulled off his coat, and, to escape the blazing sunshine, threw himself down in the welcome shade of a tree by the roadside.
Moral:
Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.
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