Classic Stories: The North Wind and the Sun
Learning English Stories
Deep Dive
What is the main theme of the story 'The North Wind and the Sun'?
The story revolves around a contest between the North Wind and the Sun to determine who is stronger by seeing who can make a man remove his coat. The Sun uses gentle warmth, while the Wind uses forceful blowing, ultimately proving that gentleness and patience are more powerful than brute force.
How does the Sun succeed in making the man remove his coat?
The Sun succeeds by shining brightly and warming the air, which gradually makes the man feel so hot that he removes his coat and seeks shade under a tree. This demonstrates the power of gentle persuasion over force.
What lesson does the story 'The North Wind and the Sun' teach?
The story teaches that gentleness and patience are more effective than force and aggression. The Sun's approach of warming the man gradually proves stronger than the Wind's forceful attempts to blow the coat off.
What happens to Miranda in the yoga school story?
Miranda, a university tutor, joins a yoga school promising transformation but soon finds herself in a dark situation involving allegations of grooming, trafficking, and exploitation. She loses control over her passport, phone, and bank cards, feeling trapped and unable to leave.
What is the darker side of the yoga school Miranda joins?
The yoga school, initially appearing safe and welcoming, leads to a darker reality involving manipulation, exploitation, and loss of personal freedom. Miranda describes being gradually sucked into a situation where she felt powerless and unable to leave.
Why does Miranda decide to speak out about her experience?
Miranda decides to speak out to seek truth and justice, prevent others from being harmed, and bring the hidden abuses to light. She aims to reclaim power and transform the negative experiences into something positive.
- The sun and the north wind compete to see who can remove a man's coat.
- The north wind's strong gusts fail to remove the coat, while the sun's warmth succeeds.
- The story emphasizes the power of gentleness over brute force.
Shownotes Transcript
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Hello, I'm Tim. Today's story is one that was told thousands of years ago and has been passed down from generation to generation. It's all about the weather and a battle between the cold north wind and the hot sun. The story begins on a beautiful cold and frosty winter's day.
The sun in the sky shone down, its rays catching the snow-covered land below, making it glisten and sparkle. The sun liked looking at the landscape that lay beneath, and thought to itself, I'm not rushing across the sky today. I'm going to catch my breath and take in the glorious view.
But as the sun is relaxing, it is caught off guard by a freezing cold wind that races past, pushing the sun out of the way. This is the north wind. It boasted that it is strong and powerful, but the sun knows there is more power in gentleness and says, let's have a contest to see which of us is the stronger.
The sun looks down to the ground and catches sight of a man wearing a warm winter coat. 'Let's see which one of us can take that coat off the man,' it says. The wind is confident it will win easily, so it blows and blows. It blows so hard that the birds have to catch hold of the trees to stop themselves being blown away.
but the man just shivers and does up the top button of his coat. The more it blows, the tighter the man pulls the coat around him to keep warm. He certainly doesn't want to catch his death. Finally, the wind gives up, saying that it has no more puff left. Now it's the sun's turn. The day is still cold and the wind has given up trying to get the man to remove his coat.
The sun is now hoping to succeed. It appears from behind a cloud and tries to catch up with the man. It takes a deep breath and appears larger and rounder. Sure enough, the air below starts to warm up and as it does, the man unbuttons his coat.
The wind watches in awe as the frost begins to thaw. The man below looks amazed. It has been such a long, cold winter that it is a joy to catch the warmth and brightness of the sun. The sun shines brighter and the man undoes another button until he feels so hot he takes off his coat. In fact, it gets so hot he has to go and sit under the shade of a tree.
Incredible, says the wind, slightly annoyed. How did you do it? The sun replies, my glowing rays opened his heart and with my gentle powers I got my way. Down below on the earth, the young man looks up at the sun as if he had heard him. That wind was strong, but the sun is stronger still. And then he fell asleep.
The wind has to admit he was caught out by the wisdom and the power of the clever sun. So all that huffing and puffing got the wind nowhere. And maybe we should take things a little slower. Like the sun. Anyway, that's the end of this tale, which has been around for almost as long as the sun itself. Please join me for another story soon. Bye for now. Bye.
Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.
And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing. But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders.
I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.
You just get sucked in so gradually.
And it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me,
It was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.
And for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, Season 6, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.