Theme: Action and Reaction

The mountain boy

There was a shepherd who every day took his sheep to graze in a very beautiful valley, from where he could see the mountains.

One day the pastor woke up feeling sick and tired. Thus, he asked his son Hugo to take the animals out to graze.

The young man obeyed. He released the sheep and they walked with him to the place indicated by the father. But Hugo was not used to that task. He found it tiring and time consuming to have to walk so much.

He was already annoyed when he tripped and fell, yelling nervously:

- Crap!

Then he heard a voice repeat what he had said. The voice came from far away, probably from the mountains.

Hugo didn't like to hear it. He got irritated. Was it someone who was making fun of his tumble and his scream?

- Who's there? - shout Hugo, irritated.

- Who's there? - the voice asked.

And then the dialogue began:

- I asked first! - shouted Hugo.

- I asked first!

- It was me, not you!

- It was me, not you!

- Stubborn! - shouted Hugo angrily.

- Stubborn!

- You are very boring!

- You are very boring!

Hugo couldn't take it anymore. He called the sheep and went away, grumpy.

Arriving home, Hugo told his father what had happened. He said that a very rude boy in the mountains had teased him and made fun of him.

Hugo's father listened to him calmly because he had already understood what happened.

The next day the father was better, but he asked his son to accompany him anyway.

The two then went with the sheep to the same place where Hugo had been the day before.

As soon as they arrived, the father spoke aloud:

- Hello!

And the voice that came from the mountains answered in the distance:

- Hello!

- Glad you're there, my friend! - said Hugo's father kindly.

And he heard the same kindness. He continued saying friendly phrases and hearing the voice return him in the same tone. Hugo was surprised and said:

— Today the boy from the mountain is even nice. But yesterday he just told me nonsense and made me angry. I don't think he likes me, only you.

Hugo's father then explained to him that there were no boys in the mountains. The voice he heard was the echo of his own voice.

Hugo was startled. He didn't know about this phenomenon. But he did some tests and saw that the father was right. The voice always repeated what came from himself.

- Interesting, isn't it, son? Echo is very useful, as it makes us realize what we are offering to the world, through our tone of voice and our words. Normally, other people are the ones who listen to what comes out of our mouths and not ourselves. And the most interesting thing is that life is also like that. What we do comes back to us. If we project bad things with our words, feelings, and actions, we get bad things back too. But if we send good and kind gestures to the world, that's what life will give back to us too. Do you understand son?

Hugo looked thoughtful and shook his head, showing that he understood. Amazed, he realized that the boy he thought was rude didn't live in the mountains. It was himself.

Time passed and Hugo grew up, but this teaching remained in his mind: life is like an echo, it always gives back what comes out of ourselves. And that helped him to be a much better and happier person.

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com