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.
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 definitely 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 weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."