If you don't listen to others and keep talking about yourself...

The young kingfisher met a flock of parrots.
We were huddled together, eating fruit from the floor.
The parrots were bright and lively.
It seemed much more fun than Dad's boring fishing lessons.
So I joined a flock of parrots.
The parrots were chattering as the forest went away.
It was so loud that it could be heard from far away.
We were so chatting that we didn't even notice the hunters approaching.
Ignoring the strange noises around me, I chattered on and on until I was finally caught by hunters! And a young kingfisher! The hunters loaded the birds onto the rugged, rough road for a long time.
Then they put the birds in a very large cage.
The cage door looked complicated.
It seemed like it was made so that even smart birds like parrots couldn't open it easily.


The caged kingfisher tried to talk to the parrots about how to escape.
But soon I realized.
There's no use talking to parrots.
The parrots never listened to others and just kept talking about themselves.
Like a young kingfisher who chattered endlessly without listening to his father who was teaching him how to fish.
Will the young kingfisher be able to escape the cage?

If speaking is silver, listening is gold!

Do you enjoy talking? Do you find yourself thinking about what you want to say instead of listening to others? Or do you interrupt others to say what you want to say? Or do you keep your mouth shut, leaving others no room to speak? What would happen if people, like the parrots in this book, ignored what others were saying and just said what they wanted to say? It would probably lead to a lot of problems.
Because if people only talk about themselves, there can be no 'conversation' between them.
The beginning of a conversation is listening carefully to what the other person is saying.
That way, you can know what the other person is thinking and understand each other.
Have you ever had an argument with a friend because you misunderstood something you didn't really mean? The best way to reconcile in such cases is to have an honest conversation with your friend.
If my friend listens well when I tell him how I feel, and if I listen well when my friend tells me how he feels, the misunderstanding will be resolved and we will be able to get along well again like before.


Go to the mirror and look at your face.
It has two ears and one mouth.
Why do we have two ears and one mouth? The reason, as the saying goes, is that we should listen twice as much as we speak.
And there is also a foreign proverb that says, 'If speaking is silver, listening is gold.'
That means listening is more important than speaking.
Take a moment to pause and listen to what others are saying.
You will be able to understand that person better.
And I'll be able to learn things I didn't know.