02/21/01

It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation
asked their new chief if the winter was going to be cold or
mild.  Since he was an Indian chief in a modern society, he
had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at
the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his
tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that
the members of the village should collect wood to be
prepared.  But also being a practical leader, after several
days he got an idea.  He went to the phone booth, called the
National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter
going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter was going to be quite cold
indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the chief went back to his people and told them to
collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later he called the National Weather Service again.
"Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied,
"it's going to be a very cold winter."

The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to
collect every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service
again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to
be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the
coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the chief asked.

"The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."