Why the Bear is Stumpy-tailed is an old Norwegian fairy tale that was gathered from Norwegian folks by Jørgen Moe and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen in their fairy tale book Norske Folke-eventyr 1843.

One day the bear met the fox, who came slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen.

“Whence did you get those from?” asked the bear.

“Oh! my Lord Bruin, I’ve been out fishing and caught them,” said the fox.

So the bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade the fox tell him how he was to set about it.

“Oh! it’s an easy craft for you,” answered the fox, and soon learnt. You’ve only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail down into it; and so you must go on holding it there as long as you can. You’re not to mind if…

« Quoi de plus fatal que de traiter en ennemis et d’envoyer à la mort des hommes qui n’ont commis d’autre crime que celui de penser avec indépendance ? »

«What, I ask, can be more fatal than that men should be considered enemies and condemned to death, not because of any wickedness or crime, but because they have a mind worthy of a free man? »

 

Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677), in Traité Théologico-Politique, 1670, est un philosophe néerlandais dont la pensée se rattache au courant rationaliste. Cette dernière aura une influence majeure sur la pensée des autres auteurs de son époque.

A friend’s memory:

My husband was in a mission and had to live in the Arizona desert for a while.

I moved to Arizona with him and stayed in a little house. After a while, I realized how much I hated that place. The heat was unbearable and everything was covered in sand.

All the local people were Aboriginals and Mexicans. I had to stay alone every day at that miserable hut called home. I couldn’t take it any longer. I wanted to leave and go back home to my family, even if it would cost my marriage.

I wrote a letter to my Dad, he was the smartest and I always relied on his opinion. I waited for his reply.

His letter changed my life forever. The content was only two sentences. “Behind the prison bars, two prisoners were standing.

One was looking at the dirt and the other…