The Trickster
How easily we're fooled
Once upon a time, there were two farmers. They were friends and neighbours, whose farms were separated by a narrow path.
One day, a stranger walked down the path. He was wearing a hat, which was red on one side and blue on the other. As he passed between the two farmers, he greeted them both, without turning his head. The farmers wished him a good day, and then they began to talk.
“That was a fine red hat”, said the first.
“It was indeed a fine hat”, said the second, “but, of course, it was blue”.
“No”, insisted the first, “it was red”.
And so an argument began. However, as both men grew more and more insistent, they remembered that the path was a dead-end. So, the stranger would need to return and then they would settle the question. And so they began to wager. Each was so certain that he was right, and so frustrated at the arrogance of the other, that it was not too long before they had bet their farms on the colour of the stranger’s hat.
Sure enough, when the stranger reached the end of the path, he turned around and began to walk back. However, before he came within sight of the farmers, he also turned his hat around, so that each farmer would see the same side as before. As he passed between the two, he again greeted them, without turning his head. And the farmers greeted him back, and each one smiled as broadly as the other.
“As I told you”, said the first, “the hat was red, so I win the bet”.
“Are you blind”, said the second, “it was blue, just as I said, so I win the bet”.
And so the argument grew and grew, and they began to fight until the local police became involved and the men ended up in court. Families and friends attended the court, to hear what all the fuss was about. People took sides and began to argue, and soon the whole community was divided on the colour of the stranger’s hat.
Meanwhile, the stranger watched from a distance and smiled at what he’d done. After all, he was the Trickster. This was what he did. He created chaos by stirring things up. He divided opinion on things that, until then, nobody had cared about. He created division where there had been none.
He did this by exploiting human weaknesses. He depended on people to dismiss the idea that their own view might be limited. He reinforced their existing view. He relied on their inability to see the other side.
And then he departed, laughing aloud, and left them to themselves.