The Wise Men

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The wise men had it coming.

But seriously, I enjoyed your story. The writing wasn't really important, so I won't pay much attention that. This was a fable, something that would normally be passed by word of mouth and so what was truely important was the story.

And you did a good job with the plot. It was interesting how you presented the wisdom of the wise men. What do you think about them?
I think they were poor leaders because they were entrusted by the villagers with their safety and yet they treated this responsibility impassively. The warrior was right to depose the men (although one could argue that he didn't do it in the nicest way) because they had betrayed the trust of their people. Wise they may be, but they didn't see that coming. Perhaps the people did not ask questions but the previous episodes seem to point that not all people should have been entrusted with such descisions.
What the warrior should have done was killed two of the three wise men. In that way, you would have an educated descision while removing the contradictions.

I like the fact that the story spawns discussion. This is good.

EDIT: Let me clarify. Killing is bad.

i really enjoyed your story. it was quite like a picture book i used to read (but slightly more violent and with a better ending). i liked the demeanor of the wise men (very zen) and i liked the idea of ruling with words. as a reader, i do have a question. why did the townspeople choose the choices that they did??? you might want to include that in your story.
technical errors-i found very few but this one stuck out to me:

Often they disagreed on many things with each other, and thought very differently about many questions, though on some things they did agree.

try:

Although they agreed on some things, that was not always the case. They had very different opionions about the questions that were brought to them by the townspeople.

or something like that.

xoxo
~abby~

I would like to make it emphatically clear that I do NOT think Ist chose the right thing. Killing them was wrong. That is one interpretive point that I will not hedge about over. As for why they chose which choices, well, that bears on their own personalities and thought processes, which has a lot to do with the point of the story.

Ask: When the bad things happened, whose fault was it, REALLY? Was the result of losing the three disagreeing men really a good thing? Was it the way the wise men lead that was faulty, or was it the way the villagers let themselves be lead that was wrong? Are the consequences of their advice the only thing to consider? What about their intentions? They certainly weren't trying to harm anyone, just to be helpful.

If you think they deserved to die, then are you saying people who give bad advice should be killed? Because if so, that's most of the human race.

Consider: Did they actually follow the words of the wise men? (Think on the actions of At and Hei.) Was Ist justified in being angry for his loss? Didn't he take their advice of his own voalition? Did any of them actually tell him to become a warrior? Does no responsibility for what happened to any of these men fall on them? Can the wise men be held accountable for the failed advice entirely? In fact, just because bad stuff happened, does it mean that the advice was even bad, or that circumstances just went negatively?

Think about these questions. Remember, this isn't "The Stupid Guys Who Gave Bad Advice" or "The Cunning Men Who Led People to Their Doom." It's "The Wise Men," which tells you something about how the writer views them individually.

Let me know what you think. I am really excited to know that this story has pushed the two of you to thinking. Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them!