A man had settled with his family on the plains of the Ohio valley. Winter was starting, and the man was worried. This was their first year in North America and they did not know what to expect.

It started to snow so the man started chopping some wood for the fire. He had been chopping for an hour when a native Indian walked by, on his way to hunt.

The man stopped him and asked if he thought it was going to be a bad winter. The native Indian looked around and replied that he thought the winter would be quite bad.

So the man carried on chopping wood and it continued to snow.

Six hours later, the man was tired but he was worried for his family so he kept going. Suddenly he spotted the native Indian coming back from his hunt so he called for him to stop. He asked him again 'How bad do think it is going to be?'. Again the native Indian looked around and then said that it was going to be one of the worst winters for some time.

So the man continued chopping and it continued to snow.

He was getting worried now. It hadn't stopped snowing all day and, with the native Indian's words ringing in his ears, he decided to chop wood all night.

The next morning he was shattered. He was just about to give up when he spotted the same native Indian again. He stopped him and said 'Look - it hasn't stopped snowing - tell me, how bad is it going to get?'. The native Indian looked around again and said it is going to be one of the worst winters he had ever seen.

'But how do you know this - what are the signs?' said the man.

'We have an old Indian saying', he replied

'The more wood the white man chops, the worse winter it will be'