One Arab lost his companion with a camel in the desert. He searched for him all day and could not find him, and in the evening he met a Bedouin. The Arab was delighted and began to ask about his missing comrade and his camel.
- Is your friend fat and lame? - asked the Bedouin.
- Yes. Where is he? - exclaimed the Arab,
- I don't know where he is. But tell me, did he have a stick in his hands? And his camel had one eye and was carrying dates, right?
The man rejoiced even more and shouted hastily:
- Yes, yes! This is my friend and his camel. But I was overcome by fatigue. How will I look for them in this heat?! When did you see them? Where did they go?
The Bedouin replied:
“I haven’t seen them and haven’t met anyone except you since yesterday.”
- Are you laughing at me?! - the Arab interrupted him angrily. “How do you want to deceive me if you just described my comrade and his camel in detail?”
“Yes, I didn’t see him,” the Bedouin calmly repeated. “And yet I know that he rested for a long time under this palm tree, and then set off towards Syria.” And all this happened three hours ago.
- How do you know all this if you haven’t seen him?! - exclaimed the Arab.
“I didn’t see him,” answered the Bedouin. “But I learned about him from his tracks.”
He took the Arab by the hand, led him to the footprints in the sand and said:
- Look at these tracks. These are human footprints, this is a camel's hoof print, and this is a stick print. Look at the human footprints. Do you see how the left foot print is deeper and larger than the right one? Doesn't this mean that the person passing here is lame? Now compare his footprints and mine - he left deeper imprints than I leave. Doesn't that mean he's more obese than me?
The Arab was surprised and said:
- All this is very good. But tell me, how did you know that a camel has one eye? After all, he didn’t touch the sand with his eyes.
“That’s true,” the Bedouin laughed. “His eye did not touch the ground.” And yet he left his mark on her. Don't you see that the camel was only eating grass on the right side? And doesn't this mean that a camel has one eye and therefore sees only one side of the road?
The Arab was even more amazed and asked:
- What trace did the dates leave?
The Bedouin walked forward twenty steps and said:
- Look at these ants that have gathered here. Can't you see that they are attracted by the date juice?
The Arab was silent for a long time, then finally asked:
- What about the time? How could you tell the time?
The Bedouin pointed to the palm tree and said:
- Look here. Don't you see that your comrade was resting here with his camel?
- But how did you guess that it was three hours ago?
The Bedouin laughed again and explained:
- Look at the shadow of the palm tree. After all, you don’t think that a person will give up the coolness and sit down to rest in the sun? Of course, your comrade was resting in the shade. I am a nomad and I know that it takes about three hours for the shadow from his resting place to move to the place where it is now.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru