# The North Wind and the Sun _Aesop_ · 2 min read · ages 4-9 The North Wind and the Sun argue over which is stronger and test it on a traveller in a heavy cloak. The Wind blows until the man grips the cloak tighter, and the Sun then shines until the traveller folds it over his arm and finishes his journey lighter than before. --- High above a quiet country road, the North Wind and the Sun fell into an argument, and neither of them would give way. “I am the stronger of us two,” said the North Wind. “I can bend an oak until it groans.” “I do not think you are,” said the Sun. “But we can put it to the test.” Just then a traveller came along the road below them, walking steadily, with a heavy cloak fastened at his throat. “There is our test,” said the Sun. “Whichever of us can get that cloak off the man is the stronger.” The North Wind agreed at once, and he claimed the first turn. He drew a long breath and gathered up every scrap of his force. Then he came whirling down on the road, cold and furious, flattening the grass on either side. He caught at the cloak and hauled at it, as though he meant to tear it away from the man in one great effort. But the traveller only bent his head and held on. The harder the Wind blew, the tighter the man gripped his collar, and the closer he pulled the cloak around him. The Wind blew until the dust rose and the trees roared. When at last he had nothing left, he drew back, out of breath, and the cloak was exactly where it had been. “My turn,” said the Sun. He did not rush. He parted the clouds and began to shine down on the road, mild and steady and warm. The wind dropped. The dust settled. The traveller straightened up. The warmth crept into his shoulders, and after a little while he stopped, unhooked the clasp at his throat, and walked on with the cloak hanging open. Then the Sun shone out in his full strength. The road turned bright, the air grew heavy with heat, and before the traveller had gone many steps more he was glad to pull the cloak right off. He folded it over his arm and finished his journey lighter than before. The North Wind watched him go and said nothing at all. **Moral:** You get much further with people by being gentle with them than by trying to force them. --- - Read online: https://talerie.com/en/tales/the-north-wind-and-the-sun - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1216326 - Tale type: ATU 298, Perry 46 (per Wikidata) - Source: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11339) - Public-domain basis: Talerie contemporary retelling (CC0 2026), based on: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) — translation: author died 564 BC (+70 passed); translator V. S. Vernon Jones died 1955 (+70 passed) - License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)