The smart man was sad. He couldn’t understand why his great truth never reached its destination. The crafty man said “We need a better boat”. He crafted a boat of bronze, much stronger than the boat of aluminum. Together they carefully gave the truth to another friend, who carefully put it in the bronze boat and cast off for the mainland. Neither their friend or the truth ever reached the mainland shore.

The smart man was now angry. How could the fake priests get here from the other side when his great truth in its sturdy boats couldn’t make it across the sea. The crafty man built an extra powerful ship made of steel. “This will make it across the sea for certain” he said, confidently. With great fanfare they sent the mighty ship off into the night. It never arrived.

The smart man was ready to give up. His great truth was in danger of being lost to the people forever. The king was winning. He went back to his cottage and didn’t come out.

One day the smart man’s neighbor heard him angrily complaining about his plight. This neighbor had a strange hobby. He spent most of his time figuring out why people said the things they said and did the things they did. He became very curious as to why the fake priests could get here to say their words, but the great truth could not get back across the sea to be heard by the people on the other side. He thought about this for a great while. Then, an idea came to him.

to be continued…