Feathers in the Wind


The story of the feathers of the wind is a folk tale I heard long ago.

One day a woman was spreading gossip about another villager, later on she finds out that this gossip wasn't true.

She was upset that she had spread false information and wanted to right her wrongs, so she traveled to the wise man of the mountains.

The wise man of the mountains told her that she must pluck out all the feathers, toss the feathers onto the road and wait until the next day to collect all the feathers.

She did not question the wise man and so did exactly what he told her.  

The next day she returned to the wise man with only three feathers in her hand. The wise man asked her what had happened to all the other feathers.  

She answered, a little upset that she could not find them, they were all gone, lost.

She asked, what did this mean, the wise man responded that gossip was just like the feathers, once they were tossed out into the road, the wind would pick them up and spread them wide and far.

And that while you'd be able to pick up a few pieces here and there, for the most part, the feathers were lost to the wind and the world.