A Story Attributed to African Tradition

Truth, Falsehood, Water and Fire at one time lived amicably together wandering the Earth. They had learned to get along by respecting each other. It came to pass that they found some wealth and agreed to divide it evenly among themselves. Although Falsehood had agreed to share, he had a scheme to acquire more for himself. He approached Water alone and reminded him of how powerful he is and encouraged him to overtake Fire so that the remaining travelers could share more wealth. Water became intoxicated by this potential and overtook Fire.

Then Falsehood earnestly pulled Truth aside and spoke of how concerned he was about the disdain Water had shown in overtaking Fire. He suggested that they hurry to a higher ground where Water could no longer reach them and Truth fearfully agreed to alter their path. They climbed high into the mountains where water could no longer burble upwards but just tumbled back down upon itself.

When Falsehood reached the top of the mountain, it bellowed to Truth "I am more powerful than you, all you have belongs to me!"

...And to this day they still battle. At times a single word of Falsehood can destroy Truth, but at others even a small amount of Truth can overtake Falsehood to change the situation. Falsehood is undoubtably powerful, but it only gains the upperhand when Truth stops struggling entirely.