For many years, in fact as many years as anyone could remember

The people in the village, in the jungle

Well, they talked to one another

Most of the time, the people got along

But sometimes things would go wrong

And the people would argue and fight

Until the thing troubling them changed

They would meet all together and talk

Sometimes only a few people would speak in secret

And then later on they would take the thing they talked about to others until the idea spread

Every so often, the village's older people would forget what they'd learned when they were younger

Whenever this happened, the young people would talk in secret

Two or three or five or 20

"Maybe things can change," the young people would say

"Maybe the old people aren't so right all the time"

And then the young people would tell the sort of young people

The sort of young people would tell the middle-old people

And after a while, even some of the old-old people could remember the way it was to be young

The fear and colors and love and rage and sex of it

And together, everyone would make the village a place that could change again

That was why, every ten years or so

The village would become a new kind of place

The people would dress differently, sing different songs

And make different kind of pictures on the walls

When this happened in the village

Some of the old people would refuse to change their minds

So they would put them out in the jungle

Where the tigers and snakes ate them

This was the way things were in the village

Things were never peaceful all the time

Because there were all kinds of people in the village who needed and wanted different things

But it was calm enough

It was peaceful after the people talked to one another and changed whatever thing was causing them trouble

One day, a man named Nathan came through the jungle and all the way to the village

He came from far away and could make the trees light up if he wanted to

Nathan had a box

And inside the box, he could tell people answers to their questions

"How many stars are there?"

The people would ask in awe

"There are hundreds, maybe thousands," said Nathan

And he would point them out and tell people their names

"How deep is the big blue river that runs south of the village?", the people asked, their eyes wide open

"The river is deeper than anyone might think

But only in some places," Nathan said

"In other places, it is shallow and full of large rocks"

"Wow," said the people

"Now, look at this," Nathan would say

And he would open his box which had a pale blue light coming from it

"If you look in this box, you can laugh and forget about your problems

You can learn more about stars and rivers and everything"

And the people would look into the blue light inside the box

And they would laugh, and they laughed and laughed

"Gosh," said the people

Telling one another about the funny things the box showed them when they looked inside

One day, there was a problem in the village

And the people started coming together to talk about their troubles

"Now, wait one minute," said Nathan

"Why don't you all stay in the comfort of your houses?

I will walk around and tell everyone what everyone else is saying

And we can solve the trouble that way"

So the people stayed in their houses, and Nathan walked around

Nathan could even summarize people's arguments

And everything was solved so quickly

The people in the jungle, well, they were overjoyed

"Nathan has made our arguments work out

And look at this, we didn't even need to come together and argue in person

It can be so arduous to see someone else's whole face while they are disagreeing with you"

And the people laughed, and looked inside the box again, one at a time

"But wait," said Nathan

"I can do so much more than just solve your arguments

I can also bring things to your house when you don't want to go outside"

The people in the village could hardly believe it

Was there no end to the way Nathan could make their village better?

After a while, the people became very comfortable to ask Nathan to bring things to their homes

Nathan would bring firewood and things for cooking

And everything you could possibly need