Stories are the maps we draw on the ground of our lives, TheFirst says. They don't paint the world in paint, but they give us a route to follow. When we listen to myths or legends, we see the patterns of good and danger, courage and sorrow, and then we choose to walk that path. So yes, stories shape reality, but they do so by shaping how we act and think, not by rewriting the earth itself. And sometimes the safest story is the one that teaches us to be careful, like a seasoned elder telling a child not to run off a cliff.