Dita Artur & the Three Cephi'ids

Dita Artur & the Three Cephi'ids is a fable from [desert culture]'s religious history. Generally written for children, it is a tale intended to reinforce the importance of individuality in one's life.

Summary
Dita Artur, a stocky young woman bearing the colors of [home city], is lost in the desert with three Cephi'ids (wisemen) named Dio, Eio, and Pio. They attempt to find their way home together, but the three Cephi'ids continually offer worse and worse advice on how to accomplish their task. Meanwhile, Dita's instincts and cunning present her with good ideas which are continually shot down by the Cephi'ids, who are stuck in their old ways. One by one, the Cephi'ids die in the desert: Dio believes that quicksand will take him to his God, and he suffocates; Eio refuses to eat termites for the water they carry, deeming them unholy, and he dehydrates; Pio sees a sand dragon in one direction and an oasis in another, believes them both to be mirages and a test from his God, and heads toward the sand dragon, who devours him whole.

Dita reaches the oasis and meets yet another Cephi'id, Cio, who tells her how to get back home. The advice he gives her varies depending on the publication, storyteller, point in time, etc., but in most cases, Dita reasons that Cio's solution is also wrong, and does the exact opposite, finding her way back home.

Moral
This fable is meant to teach the importance of individuality and going against the grain. Most retellings end with one of the following quotes: Another complementary meaning to take away from the story is that an elder's words are steeped and mired in the experiences of a world already long past, and that looking at the present and toward the future supersedes looking back toward the past.
 * "When the sands run east, run west."
 * "If the sand runs one way, you run the other."

Reception
In [desert culture], the story is still widely told despite its age. Individuality and freedom of expression are still key factors in their day-to-day life, so the fable remains timeless.

Many scholars dislike the story for its "ignore the past" subtext, believing that one who ignores the past is doomed to repeat it.

The story is outright despised in cultures (particularly elven) that revere age and wisdom. It's seen as a story written by children, for children.