Book III, Chapter 6
He said to himself: Is there really a person who can sleep and dream for seventy years? How is it possible to compare the seventy-year exile in Babylonia to a dream? One day, he was walking along the road when he saw a certain man planting a carob tree. Honi said to him: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit? The man said to him: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed. Honi said to him: Is it apparent to you that you will live seventy years, that you expect to benefit from this tree? He said to him: I found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants. Honi sat and ate bread. Sleep overcame him and he slept. A cliff formed around him, and he disappeared from sight and slept for seventy years. When he awoke, he saw a certain man gathering carobs from that tree. Honi said to him: Are you the one who planted this tree? The man said to him: I am his son's son.
— The Parable of Honi and the Carob Tree, The Talmud, Taanit 23a
Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:
- Character Death:
- Vigdis (Aoibhín) is killed by Heather in self defense.
- Steinn was killed in the explosion.
- Didn't Think This Through: Hiccup points out that the Eirish attack on Berk and its holdings wasn't well thought out.Why do the rest of their people have to suffer for having stupid leaders!? Even if they'd succeeded, the rest of the army was already assembled! My father would have crushed them!
- Take a Third Option: The Hooligans try to decide what to do about Eire. They come up with two options, Hiccup comes up with a third option which they pick.First, we can accept that our neighbors will fight among themselves, and stay back, and say that this is not our problem. And when the dust settles and the bodies are buried… we negotiate peace with the people who have killed their way to the top, and who will be looking for any sign of weakness on our part… and maybe next time, we aren't so lucky. And so nothing changes… aside from more death. Second, we try to have it both ways; we stay out of it… except we support the people we like. And they kill their way to the top, with our help, and we make them into nothing more than our puppets. And they'll still make war and kill and fight among each other. Because why should they stop!? That's what got them their thrones in the first place!I'm not saying conquer them, and ride in with sword and fire and say that we are now in charge. But here is our third option. We stop the deaths, the destruction, and we build. To each túath that is now leaderless, that has a king eyeing the empty throne above him, we send a message. To the first, we offer our protection, and membership in our tribe. And to the second… we offer membership in our tribe, and a warning that attacking our people is the worst mistake they can make. And we make it so that the men who died for no other reason than the ambition and fears of their leaders did not die in vain. Their families will be safe. Their homes will be safe.
