Once, not long ago, there was a fisherman who lived in a village next to a great river. One day, as he returned from fishing, he noticed a basket floating down the river. When he investigated, he was amazed to find a live human baby inside.
Thinking it was quite strange, he did the responsible thing and took the baby back to his village, for if he didn't, the baby would float to certain death over the waterfalls farther down the river. The villagers were surprised to see the baby and set about finding a home for it in the village.
The next day, when the fisherman returned to the river to fish, he noticed two baskets floating down the river. Now he had to find homes for two new babies. The resources of his village were becoming strained. On the third day, as the fisherman returned to his village, there were three baskets floating down the river. What was the fisherman to do?
He could let the baskets go over the waterfall. He could pretend that he did not see the baskets. He could choose to save one or two. Or he could save all the babies, but that would put a serious strain on the resources of his village -- and soon it would become more than the village could manage.
The next day, the fisherman decided not to go fishing. Instead, he equipped his boat for a journey upstream where he had never been before. He wanted to find and address the source of this growing problem...
