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One day, a calf needed to cross a virgin forest in order to return to its pasture. Being an irrational animal, it forged out a tortuous path full of bends, up and down hills.
The next day, a dog came by and used the same path to cross the forest. Next it was a sheep’s turn, the head of a flock which, upon finding the opening, led its companions through it.
Later, men began using the path: they bent down, deviating obstacles, complaining and cursing – and quite rightly so. But they did nothing to create a different route.
After so much use, in the end, the path became a trail along which poor animals toiled under heavy loads, being forced to go three hours to cover a distance which would normally take thirty minutes.
Many years passed and the trail became the main road of a village, and later the main avenue of a town. Everyone complained about the traffic, because the route it took was the worst possible one.
Meanwhile, the old and wise forest laughed, at seeing how men tend to blindly follow the way already open, without ever asking whether it really is the best choice.
.(based in traditional Malayalam story)
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Mamá dice que estudiar mucho si no, no, papá dice que estudiar mucho de lo contrario obtendrá D, profesor dice estudiar mucho de lo contrario no conseguir un buen trabajo, la sociedad dice sin posición de clase superior en su profesión no conseguirá honoured.SAME AÑO DESPUÉS DE MANERA AÑO …Mom says study hard otherwise you will fail,Dad says study hard otherwise you will get D,teacher says study hard otherwise you will not get a good job,society says without Top class position in your profession will not get honoured.SAME WAY YEAR AFTER YEAR…
True; but, it is hard to undo thousands of years of training on lies and fear.
Very True !! Centuries of conditioning rich in lies , deception and psychology of fear !
Your stories bring me back to life when I ve lost all hope…..i ll always be indebted to u Mr Paulo.Thank you!!
Cheers!!
Carmine, grazie per la tua risposta. E’ stata molto chiara e chiarificatrice, come pensavo anch’io, ma le montagne da scalare per raggiungere la meta sono molto alte. Spero quindi di trovare un passo adatto alle mie forze, tra quelle montagne.
Finchè ci sono nuove vette da oltrepassare la vita è sempre una bella sfida: oltre che ci sarà?
C’è sempre un “oltre”, una nuova frontiera, un nuovo sentiero poco battuto. Spero tanto di trovarlo.
Se mai un giorno riuscirò anch’io a pubblicare i miei libri con successo, allora potrò dire pure io di non aver percorso la strada del vitello.
Vado avanti, ed insisto, sperando che ciò non diventi il mio Zahir.
Grazie.
We could learn a lot by wandering difficult paths that traveling quickly and efficiently at 70 mph will never teach us. Hope the forest may continue to laugh: the torturous, circuitous route may have saved it from being clear-cut long ago…
Is it not the case that people feel safer following others. It has been my experience in the past, that we stay in the problem because it requires no effort – to move into the solution requires ACTION – it boils down to FEAR.
Your story was a reminder to me that I must forge my own paths – life is about the journey and not the destination.
Happy travelling :-)
Only you can deliver such a profound message in this simplistic way. The forest laughs at more than just our following the road already taken I am certain and cries at what we have taken from the forest. Praying every day we will wake up and remember!
many Blessings to you!
Deanne
Lovely
Wow,I never thought you were aware of malayalam ,sir,it makes me really proud to be a keralite.and sir I simply love your works ,let me say that some of them even helped me overcome some of the difficulties in my life, I thank you for that………
I love those 1min readings.
It’s not just the paths through the forest, always in the same way are gone …. There are also our thoughts, always are in a rut. However, a step next to suddenly open up completely new perspectives, in which most people are afraid.
I just made a 180 degree turn on my path. It’s is scary and exciting at thesame time.
I am confident that I will find my way wherever I go…
Nice inspiring story!
its funny how people dont like to take risk and discover what is hidden from them
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
Si, y tomen el camino, que tomen, siempre se quejan, nunca están satisfechos… bonita historia, un abrazo fuerte! siempre nos enseña algo nuevo :)
yes its always easier to do the same things ….
Assalam-o-Asaikum,
Hope everyone is fit and fine. I am a great fan of Mr. Paulo Coelho. I have almost read his all books. I like “Alchemist” the most.
Jurrat, why do you like Alchemist the most?
Devons nous tjs parcourir les memes chemins traces depuis des siecles ? sont ils tjs les meilleurs ?
Devons nous braver les coutumes ? Ce debat entre l ancien et le nouveau merite d etre discute .
Essayons tjs d avoir de nouvelles idees au lieu de suivre aveuglement celles des autres a condition d en tirer un meilleur resultat .Dans ce cas il faut avoir le courage d oser ,et puis s efforcer a appliquer et pratiquer .ce n est pas aussi facile mais tirons nous de l abime pour sortir a la lumiere .
WONDERED to know you aware of malayalam, my language.. true and first feeling.. i don know to put forward any serious discourses .. feel more close to you
freakin awesome and amazingly true!
it remindes me a jorje bukai’s story about the pavement and the hall on it……i have to say that your writing is very simple and easy to understand,and it looks like you’re respecting god and nature at the same time and equal!!!!!!!!waiting for the floating flower in Greece…!!!!!
Hey..I Speak malayalam….A Language which have seen many Excellent Literature Wonders…
Me too..Nice to see Paulo Coelho adapting a traditional malayalam story.. @paulo coelho, excellent piece of presentation, sir..!
Honestly, after sitting hours in traffic this reminded me of Los Angeles 405. Beautifully written though. Thank you.
Some of our responses to life situations have been learnt through the experiences or manipulations of others rather than through your own experiences because, thinking is hard, making value judgments is difficult and following others eliminates the need to think!
Think and think again!
Love
@Stergious – That was a terrific piece of thought. It just made me realise how blind and ignorant we can be. Yes, we must heed Paulo’s thought and get out of comfort zone and make our own way. Lots of admiration from Nepal. – Surja
there are really instances wherein we should think out of the box to view things/situations differently…
Most of us have a habit of complaining doing nothing to sort it out.
many of us feel helpless as to how to bring about the change!!
All this because both animal and men at time are too complacent with their surrounding to think outside the box. There is a whole world to explore we just have to walk in other directions to see it.
Yes. Life if not suppose to be work everyday & for whole life! But everyone’s life is about work. I think we should just work for 5 years or so which should/will take care of us for the rest of our life. This will help us to enjoy life as it is. Life is about living, spending time with loved ones, enjoying the activities we love! Lets start living now!
IF YOU HAVE A WORK INSTEAD OF A JOB, EVERY DAY IS HOLIDAY.
PAULO COELLO
Casou, separou, recasou. Tudo ficou igual.
beautiful, short, with the valuable teaching that could be delivered…..hats up …..
Traduction en français pour vos amis francophones:
Extrait traduit en français à partir du site de Paulo Coelho et basé sur un conte traditionnel de Malayalam.
Un jour, un veau fut contraint de traverser une forêt vierge afin de revenir à ses pâturages. Étant un animal irrationnel, il forgé un chemin tortueux plein de courbes, de montées et de descentes aléatoires.
Le lendemain, un chien flaira la piste et utilisa le même chemin pour traverser la forêt.
Par la suite, ce fut un mouton chef de file qui prit le même sentier et conduisit le troupeau à travers ses méandres.
Plus tard, les hommes ont commencé à utiliser ce chemin d’accès. Ils prirent les mêmes virages, contournèrent les mêmes obstacles tout en maugréant et se plaignant de ce chemin, à juste titre. Pourtant, ils ne firent rien pour tracer une voie différente.
Par la force de l’habitude, ce chemin d’accès est devenu le sentier usuel le long duquel les pauvres animaux devaient peiner avec leurs lourdes charges pendant trois longues heures à parcourir une distance qui aurait pu prendre une trentaine minutes autrement.
Après de nombreuses années, la piste est devenue la route principale du village et plus tard l’avenue principale de la ville. Tout le monde se plaignait du trafic car la route était la pire qu’on puisse imaginer pour y circuler.
Pendant ce temps, la forêt ancienne et sage, rit de voir comment les hommes avaient tendance à suivre aveuglément la même route déjà toute tracée, sans jamais se demander si c’était réellement le meilleur choix.
A natural process is to always follow who has proceeded us thinking it is safer. The length of time getting there is better than obtacles in the shorter path or so it may seem. If we don’t try how do we know there will be any obtacles we can’t overcome.
MY GOODNESS! AWESOME! I decided on taking a different path and taking that path has made a world of difference!!!! Just in the past 2 weeks I’m finally experiencing the ‘fruit’ of the labor and process of a lifetime! I think back to the former path and it served its purpose during that past time, however, this new path has proven beneficial on moving forward!!! Had it not been for the former path I would not know that my current path is the best one for me during this time! Thoroughly enjoyed this story!
I have just recognised that recently. I think life is a matter of choosing but everyone is afraid of choosing..
And I think they are right because it’s fearful
I love this story and remind me of my life, after Many fall downs and raised ups I learn if we don’t ask or have an open mind we will get stuck in ourselfs.
I definitely agree with you. Whem your are young you are open-minded and it is natural for you to ask “why” but how you grow old you start to be tired and after many bad experiences you will finally learn that it is better to follow the others and you don´t ask anymore. That is why stories like this are very important. They remind us that we are not alone with our doubts :-)
No sé que decir.
(Frase para el concurso)
Sólo digo AMÉN.
(Aunque esté fuera del concurso ya)
You always seem to me like someone who sees in the world something nobody else can. You are an amazing and admirable writer!
Sabias palabras señor Coelho:
Estamos ciegos pretendiendo seguir el camino que los demás han forjado para si…
Paula
Have I totally misunderstood the story? It would appear from reading that they ALL followed the path set forward by the calf… Yet in the latter part of the story it says NONE of them chose the path made by the calf… Am I missing the obvious? Would appreciate feedback…
David
I understand that all the men took the same road, even if it was the worst. They never asked themselves if it could exist another way, they just followed the path every one used before them.
As I understood the latter part of the story, it said none of them made changes on the path set by the calf :)
The calf forged a path that was tortuous and everyone – The Dog, The Sheep, and even The MAN – followed the same path. As the path was not good enough, the man kept complaining and did nothing to create a new path to reduce the time and effort to cross the forest and as days passed the situation kept getting worse..
We are much like the other animals who instead of thinking just follow. We have the best ways open for us but we are reluctant to think and we end up having the common one. So lets think for the best of us and all.
You have totally misunderstood the story….all the men and animals followed the path that the calf laid out…for years, without questioning whether or not it was the best path to take….meaning, we shouldn’t just follow through life blindly, but rather we should ask questions…
Excellent story. Would you like to say the same about the religious paths that we follow blindly without questioning!
I would say yes. Although I do not necessarily mean the founder of the religion. But the interpretation, or the policy of the organizations. Today I have read the following. The Catholic Church in Germany wants to “heal”homosexuals with homeopathic products. Everyone has their problems. Well it is nothing more important in the world. What we to think of such a nonsense? And this is just one example. I am a Catholic, I can not say that I always like it. Actually, quite the contrary.
I wish you a wonderful Night
Ciao Margherita,
se permetti, vorrei rispondere anche io alla tua domanda:
penso che il diventare scrittori ed essere riconosciuti è ancora percorribile come qualsiasi altra strada ai nostri tempi e sempre. L’essere scelta da altri non deve influenzare in quanto ognuno deve avere un proprio modo di percorrerla, il problema sarà di chi cerca di imitare, inevitabilmente finirà come chi ha seguito il sentiero del vitello. Ogni essere ha sempre in se una strada personale che nessun altro ha per giungere ad uno scopo, sia esso comune o non, deve solo avere il coraggio di intraprenderla.
I find this to be the situation of most people of the world. It’s the brave of heart and open minded of the world that look around without boundaries and keep a clear mind to find the right path.
Peace and Love,
Patrick Hitches
Lets be honest we are the ones who decided the best way or the worst, and being honest i took the hardest one, so stupid right? but imagine that i have no family and i have a daughter that i love so much that i do not want to let, because if i make the decition of start over again i do not want to take her because i could pass hunger and she will hate me, so i am still chain to this life, :( pretty idiot to tell but so hard in real life
I dont understand this properly, but i am interested to, what do you mean you have no family, do u mean you have no family because of a choice you made?
but what to do with the ignorant….it is the thirty minutes that makes three hours longer….
thankful for those who think outside of the box! I tend to doubt the norm just for sport, so I hope I’d probably be laughing with forest… :)
There are two skyscrapers. П П
You have to decide which one you want to climb up in your life. It may take a long time to get to the top because it takes work and devotion to go up the stairs step by step until you make it to the roof to enjoy the splendid view over your life achievements while breathing proud air of sweat and freedom (although the road thereto is what matters really).
If you went all the way up inside the wrong one, it’s a long way down again. You cannot rocket-jump from one roof to the other. Good thing is that it’s never too late, but the earlier you stop and think, the better.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” (R. Frost)
Love&Peace
Truly, humans have the tendency to stick w/ the norms. Even though some norms are more of sickening and exhausting sometimes. Very few has the courage to risk and deviate from it and eventually find for themselves an easier way for things.
Sadly, some exhausting seems to be less exhausting than trying to think a little… :)
ognuno nella vita decide se ne ha FACOLTA’di seguire il proprio cammino.A volte la nostra vita ,il nostro peregrinare viene scelto da altre persone,questo e’ possibile quando si è troppo piccoli, e non solo…parlo per esperienza personale.Da piccola ho seguito i miei genitori per via delle loro scelte,successivamente ho sbagliato ,ho fatto giusto…chi lo sa.Penso ,comunque di voler proseguire continuando a sperimentare il mistero chiamato Vita e i suoi percorsi ,cercando di assottigliare la mia voglia di crescita e nello stesso tempo la mia inesauribile voglia DI STUPIRMI.Voglio guardarmi in dietro sapendo di aver scelto,non avro’ consensi…l’importante e’aver fatto cio’ che si e’ voluto non facendo della debolezza altrui il proprio punto di forza e partenza.Amo dire:che il mio cammino mi porti al mio sogno con onesta’ verso me stessa.
One thought after reading this :
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
- Albert Einstein
Hats off to the calf which proved to do what men didn’t do..sadly, one cannot take back what he didn’t do..
Love and Gratitude
Annie
I love the Einstein quote :))) There are an endless number of people, I would love to enjoy a long chat about life with beer and wine – until we all get tipsy.
Among them are definitely Einstein, Paulo and you, Annie. :)
Paulo,
com’è vero che le strade percorse da tutti sono più sicure ma non portano alla meta, alla realizzazione dei nostri sogni!
Diventare scrittori ed essere riconosciuti (ammesso che noi abbiamo abbastanza talento da poter aspirare a questo), è ancora una strada nuova e percorribile ai nostri tempi, oppure secondo te, è già una strada battuta da troppi, la strada del vitello?
E tu, stai sempre cercando strade nuove o ti accontenti di percorrere la “tua strada”?
Grazie se mi potrai rispondere.
Ciao Margherita,
se permetti, vorrei rispondere anche io alla tua domanda:
penso che il diventare scrittori ed essere riconosciuti è ancora percorribile come qualsiasi altra strada ai nostri tempi e sempre. L’essere scelta da altri non deve influenzare in quanto ognuno deve avere un proprio modo di percorrerla, il problema sarà di chi cerca di imitare, inevitabilmente finirà come chi ha seguito il sentiero del vitello. Ogni essere ha sempre in se una strada personale che nessun altro ha per giungere ad uno scopo, sia esso comune o non, deve solo avere il coraggio di intraprenderla.
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