The Search

Finally, in this remote village, his quest ended.

There, by the fire, sat Truth.
Never had he seen an older, uglier woman.
’’Are you truth?’’
The wizened, wrinkled hag nodded.
’’What message can I take from you to the world?’’ he pleaded.
She replied, spitting into the fire, ’’Tell them I am young and beautiful.’’

- A short story by Robert Tompkins