Once upon a time, there was a small island in the Pacific Ocean. It was ruled by a kind king. His subjects, who were less in number, loved him.
The people of the island had never known fighting. They cared for each other and lived in harmony.
The island was beautiful, its air refreshing. The sea surrounding it was as clean as glass. It was like a paradise.
One day, a king of a mighty nation passed by the island with his fleet of armed ships. When he saw the island, he could not resist laying his hand on it.
“This island shall be mine from this day. Take all your men and capture it,” he told the chief of his army.
The chief commanded his army of thousands to surround the island and then sent an ambassador to the island king to ask him to surrender.
“Our king wants this island. You shall give up this place and leave with all your subjects immediately,” the ambassador told the island king.
As the ambassador left, the island king called his courtiers for counsel. They suggested him to surrender and leave the place for everyone’s safety.
“We do not have a big army. We only have 200 soldiers. They cannot defend us against the mighty enemy if we choose to fight,” said the oldest among the courtiers.
When the courtiers were talking, a young soldier guarding the king’s court interrupted. “We cannot give up our home like that,” he shouted, speaking out of turn.
Everyone, including the king, turned their heads to see who it was.
“Come forward and explain yourself,” the king ordered.
“Winning doesn’t need an army, it takes courage. If we give up so easily, we might never find a home anywhere,” he said.
“But how do we fight this mighty enemy?” asked the king.
“We will fight with courage and strategy.”
The king had no idea about what his guard was planning, but he wanted to save his home, his subjects.
“You lead our soldiers and defeat the enemy,” the king told the guard.
The guard ordered all the soldiers to gather with their swords, axes, bows and arrows. He led them to the caves on the island.
“Make war cries as loud as you can,” ordered the guard commander. The soldiers did as ordered.
The echo from the walls amplified the war cries and the noise coming out of the caves suggested that there were thousands of soldiers.
When the enemy heard it, it got scared. It thought it was up against a bigger force. Not wanting to lose, the enemy force quickly retreated.
The chief of the enemy force returned to its king. “This island has an army bigger than ours. It is best that we do not wage a war against them. We shall look for some other island to conquer,” he told the king.
The king did not even give it a second thought. He went by his army chief’s decision. Thus, a war was terminated before it could start.
