The Couple in the Hut

A fable related by Roger Dawson in his book on negotiating, “You Can Get Anything You Want”, illustrates our forth rule of power. It’s about a very old couple who lived in a small, somewhat sordid thatched hut in a tiny village, which after a particularly nasty storm was completely demolished.

 Being much too old and poor to rebuild, the couple moved in with their daughter and her husband and four children. This arrangement precipitated an unpleasant domestic situation, as the daughter’s hut was barley big enough for her own family of six.

 So the daughter went to the wise man of the village, told him the problem, and asked “What shall we do?” The wise man while taking puffs from his pipe asked the lady if she had any chickens, and responding that she had ten, was told to bring the ten chickens into the hut. Although the wise man’s decision seemed ludicrous to the woman, she obeyed but the problem was soon unbearable, with feathers as well as words now flying about the hut.

 The woman returned to the wise man, pleading once again for advice. On learning that the woman had three pigs, the wise man told the woman to bring the pigs into the hut. That seemed positively ridiculous but to disobey the wise man was unthinkable, so she brought the three pigs into the hut. And now life was unlivable, with eight people, ten chickens, and three pigs sharing one tiny, noisy hut.

 The next day the woman, fearing for her sanity, approached the wise man for the last time crying and pleading for help as life in the hut had become intolerable. This time, the wise man’s response was encouraging: “Remove the chickens and the pigs from your home” The animals were quickly evicted and the entire family of eight lived together happily in the hut for the rest of their days” Lesson learned: Every positive has its negative; if a negative is pushed hard and deep enough, it will breakthrough into its counter side. The challenge of pushing an issue hard and deep enough to the point of breakthrough probably ranks as the weakest trait of the professional and middle class. And we all have ready excuses for exhibiting this trait which I have come to tag the fetching water with a basket syndrome. This syndrome is particularly chronic for those who live in the big cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt but nevertheless afflicts most middle class Nigerians. There is a realization that this syndrome has been created and nurtured by the establishment and that I am being deliberately pushed to breaking point. The realization that I can together with others also push back at the establishment on selected issues to the point of breakthrough is worth exploring and actualizing. There is enough room to address our major concerns in Nigeria, but nothing happens until we push deep and hard enough to the point of breakthrough.