Journal 1

Once, a long time ago, rain fell from the sky quietly and gently, and never was accompanied by lightning and thunder. Lightning never destroyed trees or homes, and everything grew tall and beautifully.

One day a young man was walking through the forest. While resting beneath the tall trees, because even walking is a rest in such a place, he came upon a very old man. The old man invited the young man to sit down and speak with him. The young man was not a mean spirited person, but he did not know the old man and was not fond of strangers.

He answered rather rudely, saying "No, I will not sit with you. I do not know you, and you look very strange besides." It was true that the old man looked very strange. His hair was shaggy and grey, and his face was deeply lined with age. On top of that he wore the strangest clothing the young man had ever seen. As true as it was, it was still a very impolite thing to mention.

The young man's refusal made the old man very angry, mostly because of the indignant manned of the speaker. "I am many years your elder, and even if you do not wish to sit with me you should have a little respect." the old man replied. "After all, I have seen times and places that you have not the slightest notion of."

At this the young man became annoyed. As I said before, he was by no means a bad person, but even the best among us can have trouble taking criticism sometimes even from someone with as much wisdom as their elders. He answered "I do not owe you any respect, and now I shall be leaving."

The rain spirit stood and looked at the impudent young man who had treated him with so little courtesy. After studying him for a moment, he sprang into the sky. A storm began, the likes of which the young man had never before seen. Thunder and lightning, which were before never so much as heard of, flew out of the sky. Lightning kill favorite trees. The cold wind knocked tall branches out of the trees. The old man's fury continued until the grove was a wreck.

Even now the old man is still enraged by the young man's rudeness to him, and even now thunder and lightning accompany the larger storms.