The Truth and The lie

The Truth and the Lie cross paths one day. The Lie says to the Truth: “It’s a lovely day today!” The Truth looks around at all of nature rejoicing in the beautiful weather and sees that it is a truly lovely day. The Lie invites the Truth to spend the day together. The Truth is tentative at first, but accepts after witnessing the Lie express such joy and genuineness in the glory of the day. They spend hours together laughing, talking and exploring until they reach the shores of a placid lake. The Lie exclaims: “The water in the lake is delightful, let’s jump into it together!”

The Truth tests the water and discovers that it is indeed delightful. After a full and active day together in the sun, the Truth and the Lie both undress and jump in to enjoy the refreshing water of the lake. The Truth floats in the lake with her eyes closed, lulled into happiness by the unexpected pleasantness of the day.

Suddenly, the Lie jumps out of the water, dresses in the Truth’s clothing, grabs his own, and runs away. In shock and dismay, the Truth swims to the shore as fast as she can and runs after the Lie. Everywhere the Truth runs in pursuit of the Lie, the World turns its gaze away and shuns her, filled with contempt and rage.

The poor Truth returns to the lake and disappears, hiding in the deep water where she fears she will spend all the rest of her days. Meanwhile, the Lie, clothed as the Truth, lives a smug and satisfied life embraced by a society that has no wish at all to meet the naked Truth or give the naked Truth a chance to live without shame.

Adaptation of a 19th century legend (original author unknown). The genders are a literally device that can be reversed by anyone reading the story.

78 thoughts on “The Truth and The lie

  1. Pingback: REBLOG: The Truth and The lie – Mangus Khan

  2. MikeR

    Let us hope that truth outweighs the lies told in this World today, MW, there are too many who have their own agenda, and weave smoke screens, 👏

    Liked by 1 person

  3. ladybird

    What an outstanding allegory. Thanks for sharing. We’re living this today…it’s hard to find the needle of truth in the haystacks of lies out there.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. What an excellent Metaphor for what we see occurring in reality … I am hearing the words in my head from another quote.. I forget how said it.. You may know.. is..
    “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” 🙂
    Sending Much love MW xx

    Liked by 3 people

  5. I do not think I have ever met a true narcissist, Mother Wintermoon. It is hard to tell, but I think that I have been lucky. I have met some people with low self esteem who were trying to over compensate. I think that I am guilty of that as well at times. Your tag made me read your wonderful allegory in this direction.

    I also read it as a war within one’s own consciousness. Different parts of our self battling for domination. The lies we tell ourselves, and so on… It was a wonderful experience to think of these things.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Very happy to inspire your reflections, my friend. Thank you for sharing them with me. This story is a 19th century legend that I adapted a bit by adding some flourishes. Sadly, it’s completely relevant today. The lies we tell ourselves will always lead to self-sabotage. Blessings to you, MW 🙏

      Liked by 1 person

          1. Thank you, Mother Wintermoon. I do not think I am kind and gentle, but I try my best to be, when I can remember. It is too easy for me to forget, when life gets difficult. Blessings on you as well 🙏

            Liked by 1 person

  6. Fear will test our truth, and we will always be reacting to life instead of creating it while ever we don’t face it. Fantastic post dear lady and well written. May we all be challenged…and set free in its understanding 😀❤️🙏

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Pennsivity

    Oh I so wanted to trip up the Lie, MW, … and reclothe the Truth, …so much deceit, and ability to live under Lies, …paints a sorry picture of modern day life, what’s that saying “Truth will out, “…Let’s pray for a Truthful acceptance in the World, …let Let lies lay where they fall, ..Tripped up, …most definitely…✨🙏✨🌹✨

    Liked by 3 people

  8. “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes.” is a quote attributed to Mark Twain. However, there is no record of Mark Twain ever saying that, but other people had said similar things before him, and it is a good quote. But I see the speed with which fake memes, false claims and popular myths travel around on social media. I’ve tried to correct some with snopes.com and pointing out that the originator is a fake meme factory, only to get blocked. People love popular nonsense if it supports their pre-existing beliefs.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Thanks for reading Colleen! Definitely TRUE to life. Love the way you worded that. It was written by an unknown author in the 19th century. I just added some flourishes and changed a few details. Ironic how relevant it is today. 🙏😊

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Wow, this is powerful! An apt, eye-opening analogy which perfectly depicts how the world we live in sadly is. Fake truth abounds so much it’s becoming very hard to discern the genuine, naked truth amongst the lies. Thank you for sharing this beautifully written modern parable. I love it! x

          Liked by 2 people

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