Are You a Follower or a Character in a Fairytale

Once upon a time, there was a man and his dog

Pexels

Late summer arrived in uneven patches. At half past seven in the morning, a man in a gaberdine coat walked his mongrel along a dirt track that winds its way through a Scottish wood. Raspberries grow in tangled clumps along the verge. With a small stretch of his hand, the man found the ripe fruits and tasted their sweetness.

The dog sniffed the grass, absorbed by the scents. At short intervals, he looked along the path for the gaberdine coat and scampered to catch up.

A woman sitting on a bench by the side of the path watched the man and his dog approach. The man nodded, “Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she replied. “ I see you are eating the raspberries.”

“I like the ones in the shade. They taste so much sweeter,” he smiled and walked on.

The dog sniffed the woman, hoping for a treat, then followed on behind the man with the gaberdine coat.

The woman watched the man until he disappeared around the winding path. She was taken with his peaceful countenance and reflected on his words.

That night, over dinner, she told her husband of the exchange.

The next morning, the woman and her husband were sitting on the bench when the man in the gaberdine coat passed with his dog. They exchanged greetings. The husband petted the dog.

“He’s in no hurry to catch up with you,” said the husband.

“He’s old. He no longer runs through the woods; he walks slowly so he can understand it,” the man in the gaberdine coat replied.

The woman and her husband exchanged a wide-eyed look.

The woman and her husband told their friends about the wise man in the gaberdine coat. Curious to see him for themselves, they met on the path and waited for the man in the gaberdine coat.

“Good morning,” they said in unison, as the man and his dog passed.

“Good morning,” he replied with a nod.

“Where are you going?” one of the crowd asked.

“We have no destination. The path is our place,” the man in the gaberdine coat replied.

Tales of the man in the gaberdine coat spread. People began walking on the path in the hope of meeting him and his dog. They asked questions and took note of his words.

The people shared his words on social media. They described the man in the gaberdine coat as a modern philosopher, a man of wisdom, in harmony with nature.

Before long, dozens gathered at the entrance to the wood and followed the man in the gaberdine coat. An unwritten understanding came between them: One question from one follower per day. Everyone would get a turn in time.

“How should I live my life?” one asked.

After a pause, the man replied, “Treat people with dignity and leave things a little better than you found them.”

Another asked, “I’ve been offered a new job, but it means moving away from my parents to the other side of the world. What should I do?”

“However you see the future, choose the option that reduces regret, not discomfort,” he answered.

The newspapers got word of the man in the gaberdine coat. They dubbed him “Scotland’s walking sage.” Soon, hundreds of people appeared on the path. Seeking a glimpse and a word. The rule of one question per person got lost in the crush. The followers scrambled to have their questions heard. Questions deteriorated to problems:

— “My husband had an affair, should I forgive him or divorce him?” — “I got passed over for promotion. What should I do?” — “Can you give me the lottery numbers?”

He had no answers for these. In the hubbub, he walked on.

At home, the man read his newspaper and saw himself mentioned. It attributed words to him that he hadn’t said:

— “The wise man does not chase clarity; he waits for it to trip over him.”

I didn't say that, he thought. That’s nonsensical.

— “Peace is achieved when the kettle stops judging the water.”

‘That’s absurd,’ he told his dog, who looked somewhat confused.

One day, he listened to the podcast of a famous entrepreneur and his guest, who quoted him as saying:

— “Reality is mostly held together with optimistic glue and mild confusion.”

They discussed its meaning for an hour.

The man only saw the meaninglessness of the words.

That night, the man sat at his desk and drafted a speech. He wanted to address his followers to dispel the nonsense he’d been wrongly quoted as saying.

He worked hard and long. Finding the right words, shaping his sentences, finding clarity in his thoughts. He condensed the sagacity, perceptiveness and discernment until he finally had a piece of insight worthy of the past praise afforded to him.

In the morning, he put on his gaberdine coat and took the path through the forest. The usual hundreds had amassed, clustered in groups, discussing enlightenment, wisdom and the meaning of life, waiting to follow the man and his dog.

The man stopped and faced the throng. The crowd slowly realised he was about to speak, and silence spread among them. When a hush fell, with only the sounds of birds and the wind through the trees, he spoke.

“I have something important to tell you. Not the fanciful falsehoods and fiction that have been spread in the newspapers and podcasts. These will be my words. But first, my dog and I will complete our communion with nature.”

He turned and wandered the path, his dog following close behind.

At the end of the path, the trees parted to a clearing. The man in the gaberdine coat walked over to a mound where he could stand and be seen. He collected his thoughts, cleared his throat and turned to face his followers.

But there was no one there, except his faithful friend.

Malky McEwan

In the last six weeks, my follower count has grown by thousands, doubling the number gained in the last six years, but none of them are reading anything I write. The curiouness of it inspired this story.