When Pat and Mike met each other on the street one day, Pat noticed that Mike had a terrible cold.
“Have you seen a doctor about that cold?” he asked.
“No,” said Mike, “But I probably should. Do you know a good doctor?”
Pat gave him the name of his own doctor and assured him that he’d be in good hands.
About a week later, they met again and Pat wasn’t sure if the cold was really better.
“Did you see my doctor?” Pat inquired.
“Oh, yeah,” Mike replied. He was a really nice guy!”
“Well, did he give you something to help your cold”?
“Sure did!” Mike answered, somewhat enthusiastically. “He told me to drink a big glass of fresh orange juice after a hot bath.”
“Well, did it help?” Pat asked hesitantly.
“How do I know?” Mike retorted. “I haven’t even finished drinking the bath yet!”
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 is 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.
One week later, he called the National Weather Service again.
“Is it going to be a very cold winter?” he asked.
“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 looks like it’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever.”
“How can you be so sure?” the Chief asked.
