A Story

A fish swam in water its whole life. One day a bird landed on a branch above the pond and said, “How do you bear being wet all the time?”

The fish said, “What is wet?”

The bird, pleased with its wisdom, flew home to tell the other birds about the fish who did not know it was wet.

That night a storm came. The bird huddled on its branch, feathers soaked, shivering, unable to fly.

It thought: I am wet.

Then it thought: I have always been wet.

Then it thought: what is wet?

Then it could not remember what it had tried to teach the fish, or why it had thought it was different.

The storm passed. The sun came out. The bird dried its wings and flew to the pond to tell the fish what it had learned.

The fish said, “You were gone?”