Aesop's Answer to the Curious Man
Once upon a time, wise Aesop lived in a peaceful town where the chirping voices of birds echoed. Aesop, who whispered deep thoughts to people all day long, loved to rest by the river in the late afternoon. While the golden yellow lights of the sun struck the water, he played games joyfully with the children of the town. That day too, under a shady tree at the side of the road, he was having fun with the children, holding a loosened bow in his hand. While the smell of the pink flowers around spread with the wind, the laughter of the wise man brightened the whole place. Just then a proud and curious man who was passing on the road paused in surprise when he saw this scene. This stranger, who thought himself very clever, met with mockery the fact that Aesop was losing time with a childish game.
Stepping up to the tree, he looked towards Aesop and began to speak in a scornful manner. “Great wise man, are you not ashamed of killing time with such empty works?” he asked. Aesop smiled at the man's reproachful words without getting angry at all. He slowly put the bow in his hand down on the ground and looked into the man's eyes. “Tell me, stranger, have you been able to understand why this bow stands so loose?” he said. The curious man shook his head from side to side and answered impatiently. “I did not understand, and I really wonder very much about the answer to this silly riddle,” he said.
Aesop took an arrow from the ground and held out the loose bow to the man's hand. “If you keep a bow taut all the time, in time it loses its spring and breaks at the first attempt,” he said. “But if you set it free when it is necessary, when the hunting time comes it will again be strong and ready to shoot an arrow,” he added. He explained that the mind and the body of a person, just like this bow, need rest from time to time. The proud man felt a deep shame before this wise lesson he had received and went away from there in silence. The wise person who knows how to rest his mind in the confusion of life always stands stronger in hard moments. Go slowly so that you may go far.