9. The Wind and the Sun

One morning the Wind said to the Sun, “I am stronger than you are.” The Sun said, “I know I am stronger than you are.” As they were quarreling over the question a traveler came in sight. So they agreed to decide the matter by seeing which first could make him take off his coat. Then the Wind began blowing, blowing as fiercely as he could. He nearly tore off the traveler’s coat, but the man buttoned his coat up more closely about him, and the Wind had to give up, beaten. Then the Sun, clearing away the clouds, shot his hottest beams down on the traveler’s back, and the man soon threw off his coat. Then the Sun said, “Wind, you make more noise, but, you see, I am stronger.”