In the old days, in the distant past, one day in the evening the cicadas were having great fun.
Suddenly one of them squealed pitifully:
- Oh, it hurts! Oh, I can't! Oh, my head hurts!
There was a commotion. The cicadas decided to quickly send for a doctor. Here they argued among themselves:
- Let's send that one, no, better this one...
And the oldest and wisest cicada advised:
- We need to send a centipede. She has a lot of legs, she will quickly run to everyone.
They asked the centipede cicadas to run for the doctor, and they chirped near the patient:
- Be patient, be patient, be patient!
The patient is moaning, but the doctor is still missing. “Where is our centipede? Why hasn’t she brought a doctor yet?” - the cicadas are worried. They went to see if the centipede had returned to its home. They see: a centipede sits, sweating profusely, on the threshold of its house, and in front of it is a pile of straw sandals.
The cicadas ask her:
- Why is the doctor taking so long to come?
And the centipede responded:
“Don’t you see, I’m in a hurry with all my might?” I’m just putting on my twenty-first foot. I’ll put sandals on all my feet and immediately run for the doctor.
It was only then that the cicadas realized that the centipede was just putting on its shoes for the journey. It’s good that the patient recovered in the meantime even without a doctor.
It’s not for nothing that old people say: “It’s not the one who runs the fastest who will get there first, but the one who gets ready for the journey the fastest.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru