The Farmer The Desert Island And The Gull

The Farmer, The Desert Island, and the Gull.

A farmer, while traveling by boat to visit a distant dying sibling, got caught in a storm. The storm heaved the ship high atop a wave and dashed it down against an exposed rock, smashing it to bits. When the storm had cleared, the farmer awoke on a desert island with nothing save his clothes and a bag of seeds he intended as a gift for his sibling's family.

The island was small, just a few hundred feet across, and contained nothing, except for sand and one large rocky mound which, thankfully, provided some shade from the deadly heat.

At first, the farmer despaired and accepted the death that by all rights would soon come. But then it rained, and the farmer noticed that the rainwater collected in small divots that pocked the stony mound. "It rains frequently in these seas, I should have water for some time. Now only to fish for food."

But fishing proved impossible. The farmer's sandals had been lost and all around the island were jagged rocks that sliced his feet to walk upon.

With nothing left to do, the farmer ate one of his seeds and planted the rest in the barren sand, stating "These will not grow in this sand, but I have nothing to lose. And besides, farming is all I know."

The next day, the farmer awoke to the sight of a gull pecking at the sand where the seeds had been planted. Wasting no time, the farmer stripped off his breeches, crept up as quietly he could on the soft muting sand, and flung the clothes over the gull, ensnaring it. Once caught, the farmer got hold of the gull and twisted its neck, killing it. Next, using the gull's own beak, he skinned and sliced its body, cured its meat with brackish water, and dried it in the sun to jerky.

After a meal of gull jerky, the farmer said to himself "Well, I guess my planting bore a crop after all".

With no reason to hope comes the freedom to be unreasonable.