Choice

May 19, 2013

He was a traveler during the Middle Ages, and was walking in the country side.
He came to an intersection which was parted into two roads. The sign at the intersection read, 'After about 50 kilometers, these roads will meet again. Both courses are almost identical in distances, as well as in ups-and-downs, but they are different in some ways." He didn't understand the last part, 'in some ways'. But, after a minute, he chose the path to the right.
He walked a couple of hours, and suddenly it started to pour down rain. He looked over to the place where the other road would have led to. Over there, the sky was blue. He sighed, "I could have chosen that course." As he was walking, the weather became worse: windy with heavy rain, and, furthermore, lightning. He became badly soaked. He cursed his choice.
After struggling for several more kilometers, he found a small wooden shelter for travelers. Some light came out from a gap in the window; he slowly opened the door.
There was a woman lying on the wooden floor by the fire place. She was sleeping. She looked to be in her 30's.

The fire was weak. He hastily looked for wood around the hut. There was some firewood outside against the wall. He carefully put some piece of thin wood on the fire. The fire gained strength. He added more wood. He started to change his clothes but soon he realized something was wrong with the woman. Her face was pale. Her clothes were soaked. He gently shook her shoulder but she didn't react. Her breath was hard. He touched her forehead. It was hot. He was upset.
He found her backpack next to her and opened it, there were no extra clothes. He stopped to put on his new clothes; and, instead, he started to change her from her wet clothes into his new dry clothes. In the middle of changing her, she opened her eyes and stared at him. She said nothing and soon fell back asleep.
Late next morning, he woke up and checked her again. He stayed awake during the night to change the wet towels on her, and only got to sleep around dawn. Now as he looked at her, there was a lively look on her face. She survived. He was very relieved.
When he was making rice porridge, she opened her eyes. He said to her not to move until the food was prepared.
She thought something for a second and asked in a weak voice, "Why did you choose the course to the right? I mean, not the left. If you had chosen the other way, my life ... ". He answered, "I don't know, it was natural. But why did you choose the path to the right?" She replied, "When I thought about the road to the right, an image occurred to me that somebody would help me. So I selected this way without worrying about anything."