Uncle Drago and the Very Fast Floating Raft

High up in the rocky pass, the wind blew cold across the deep blue water. This lake sat between two steep stone hills. A cheerful ferryman named Uncle Drago spent his days here. He helped travelers cross the deep water on his flat wooden raft. He used a thick guide rope to pull the raft back and forth. His home was a nearby Balkan hamlet of stone houses and slate roofs. Every evening, sheep went down the grassy slopes. The shepherds walked over ancient stone bridges. They gathered in the village square to tell funny stories. Uncle Drago loved stories, but he loved his raft more. He knew that the deep water could be dangerous if one was careless.

One late August afternoon, a merchant named Master Vane arrived at the lake. He had a wooden cart pulled by a strong horse. Inside the cart were ten heavy sacks of white salt. Master Vane was in a very big hurry. He wanted to reach the market on the other side of the pass before sunset. He looked at the sky and saw dark clouds. A storm was coming. He did not want his salt to get wet. Wet salt would melt and turn into useless white water. He ran to Uncle Drago and pointed at the raft. He shouted that they must leave right away.

Uncle Drago looked at the heavy sacks. He shook his head. “My raft can only carry five sacks at one time,” he said. “If we load more, the raft will sit too low in the water. We must make two trips.”

Master Vane stamped his foot on the wooden dock. “Two trips will take too long!” he cried out. “The storm will catch us! We must take all ten sacks at once. Look at how strong your raft is. It can easily hold them if we stack them high. We must take this shortcut!”

Uncle Drago blinked. He rubbed his chin and looked very thoughtful. “Ah!” he said. “You are indeed a very clever merchant. Why make two trips when we can make none? This is a wonderful plan. If we load all ten sacks, the raft will sink to the very bottom of the lake. Since the lake bottom goes all the way to the other side, we can simply walk along the dry ground under the water. We will never have to worry about the cold wind at all!”

Master Vane stared at Uncle Drago. His eyes grew wide. “Are you out of your mind?” he yelled. “We cannot walk under the water! We would drown! And the salt is not dry ground. It would all melt in the lake. We would lose everything!”

Uncle Drago smiled and patted the merchant on the shoulder. “Ah, I see,” he said in a gentle voice. “So you want the salt to arrive dry, and you want us to arrive breathing?”

“Of course I do!” Master Vane said, shaking his fists.

“Then,” said Uncle Drago, “we must take two trips. A raft that is underwater carries nothing but fish.”

Master Vane stood on the dock. The wind blew his hat. He understood that he was being foolish. He had wanted to cut corners to save time. But cutting corners would have ruined his cargo. He sighed and helped Uncle Drago load five sacks of salt onto the raft. They slowly pulled across the lake using the guide rope. After they unloaded the salt, they came back for the other five sacks. The storm started just as they finished. The rain fell hard, but the salt was safe inside a dry stone cabin. Master Vane thanked the wise ferryman. He learned that doing a job the right way is always better than taking a dangerous shortcut.

Moral: We must do our duties with care and patience, rather than taking risky shortcuts to save time.