The idea of ​​heritage and tradition in the modern world has become an important idea for both indigenous peoples and the descendants of European settlers who attempted to Westernize the lands they discovered and the people in them. This idea has taken numerous forms in recent and not-so-recent years. One form in which it has been examined is the literary short story. Thomas King's "One Good Story, That One" and Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path" use characters and conflicts to make a statement about the loss of tradition and heritage in order to demonstrate the effect of colonialism on indigenous peoples and their culture. The representatives of colonialism in these stories are white men in positions of superiority. In King's story they take on the role of anthropologists, educated and well dressed, while in Achebe's story the white man is a supervisor tasked with overseeing everything the black main character does. The presence of these men, all of European origin, is a metaphor for the way the original settler behaved. The supervisor's position of authority over the "lesser" black man reflects the attitude that causes the loss of wealth, while in King's story the attitude shown by anthropologists is that of the conqueror: expecting to have one's desires fulfilled (to hear a old traditional story ) encountered by those who were conquered. They don't even bother to sit with the person they ask this of. “These three like to stand. Stand still." (pg...p...) These characters remain nameless and faceless, known only by their titles, in both stories. Perhaps it's because their true purpose in the story is not that of a character , but that of a symbol of the attitude of the settlers. the white men... at the center of the paper... ce if the lessons taught through these literary tales are taken to heart and lived in everyday life "The Path of Dead Men." Short Fiction: Classical and Contemporary. Ed. Charles Bohner. 40-42. Derry, Ken and Theology: An International Journal of Religion, Theory and Culture 16.2 (2002): 201-219. MLA International Bibliography. 8 November 2010. Heinimann, David. " English Studies in Canada 30.3 (2004): 39-56. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Network. 8 November 2010. King, Tommaso. "A good story, that." A beautiful story, that. HarperCollins, 1993. 3-10. Print Lindfors, Bernth, ed. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Jackson: Mississippi Univ. Press, 1997. Print.