018. It is in your hands

Outside of a town, there lived an old and blind woman, who could answer any question asked by visitors. Her knowledge and wisdom became well-known and people revered her.

One young man, who came from another town, did not believe that the woman had extraordinary powers. He thought that she was a fraud and made a plan to expose her. He went to her home and said, “I have something in my hand. Can you tell me what is it that I am holding in my hand?”

The old woman, though blind, had a keen sense of hearing. She heard the rustle of feathers and told the young man that he had a bird with him.

The young man was surprised at her correct answer, but moved to his next question. “Is the bird live or dead?” he asked the woman. His plan was this: If the woman said the bird was alive, he would quietly crush and kill the bird and tell her she was wrong. If she said that the bird was dead, he would let it fly thus disproving the woman’s answer.

The woman did not answer for a while. Confident that he had truly trapped her, the young man repeated the question. After a long pause, the woman answered, “I do not know whether the bird is alive or dead. But I can say it is in your hands. It is really in your hands.”

The young man realized that she had seen through his plot, apologized to her, and went away.

Background: This is a well-known story, probably of Indian or Eastern origin, but it became famous when the writer Toni Morrison used it in her 1993 Nobel Lecture. This is how Toni Morrison ended the story: “Her answer can be taken to mean: if it is dead, you have either found it that way or you have killed it. If it is alive, you can still kill it. Whether it is to stay alive, it is your decision. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility.”

You can interpret the story in your own way.