STORY: Achievement by Edmund Bok

 Story title: Achievement
By: Edmund Bok

     There is a legend about an Indian chief who used to test the strength of his young braves by challenging them to climb up the side of the mountain as far as they could go without stopping. On an appointed day, four braves left at daybreak.
     The first returned with the branch of a spruce tree to show how high he had gotten. The second
came back with a twig of pine. The third brought an Alpine shrub. The fourth returned by the light of the moon. He was worn and exhausted, his feet torn by the rocks.
     "Well, what did you bring back? And how high did you get?" asked the chief.
     "Chief," said the brave, "where I went there were no trees of shrubs or even flowers, only rocks and snow and barren land. I am worn and torn and exhausted and have come home late. But" and here a wonderful light came into his eyes " I have seen the ocean."