Short Story

One day,

 A man was running through the country side. The man grew tired of running and decided to sit down on a stump. The stump sat patiently waiting for the man to be rested enough to move along. But the man had fallen asleep. The stump had places to be so he just simply stood up and began to walk towards his meeting with the ship makers of the North. When the man woke he realized three things. One, he was no where near where he had nodded off. Two, he could hear the Ocean. Three, He was well rested, hinting that he was asleep much longer then he attended to be. The man looked around thinking, "The weirdness of all this astounds me". The man again began to run. Suddenly it started to get cloudy and the man suddenly couldn't hear past the clouds. His sight extended farther then he thought it could and he saw the stump he'd fallen asleep on in the woods. Granted the log was strangely enough sitting in a wood chair and more than that it's legs were crossed. Sitting across from the log was a man in a full on sailor attire, they were talking about boats. Only then did the man realize what the log was. It was a blood trader to it's own kind! The log was selling out it's own companions to be made into ships. The man was suddenly disgusted in that seemingly friendly log he'd fallen asleep on. The man decided he needed to sell someone of this atrocity. The man once again began to run. The log turned around just in time to see the mans tightly laced Nike's dissipate into the clouds. The log laughs a woodsy laugh and the sailor joins in his chortles rolling like waves over the sea. The man runs to the forest frantically yelling about what he witnessed. The tree's couldn't believe what he was saying (apparently this stump had a very high standing in tree society.) So they shunned him as a liar. The next day they went to meet their friend The Stump who led them all to the "lounge". The "lounge" turned out to be a ship building yard. None made it out alive. The stump and the sailor walked out of the yard laughing their laughs. The Running Man Who wasn't able to get within fifty feet of the "lounge" sat on the hill cradling his head in his hands crying not knowing why they couldn't at least trust a stranger whom had never done them wrong.

 The moral is Your word is the most important thing that you have. If you ever meet someone for the first time they are a blank slate, innocent until proven guilty, trustworthy until proven not so. Never let clouded assumption shroud the truth in any situation.