A certain scientist, who became famous for his knowledge and his magnificent long gray beard, was walking one evening through the alleys of Shiraz. Lost in his thoughts, he passed by a crowd of water-carriers who were making fun of him. The bravest of them approached him, bowed low and said:
“Great Master, my friends and I made a bet. Tell us, where does your beard lie when you sleep at night, on the blanket or under it?
The scientist shuddered, looked up from his thoughts, looked in surprise, but answered affably:
- I don’t know myself. I never thought about it. But I'll definitely explore it. Come here again tomorrow at the same time and I will answer your question.
When night fell and the scientist went to bed, sleep did not come to him. Wrinkling his brow, he wondered where his beard usually lay. On the blanket? Under the blanket? No matter how he thought, he could not remember. Finally, the scientist decided to do an experiment: he put his beard on the blanket and tried to fall asleep. Internal anxiety rose to my heart. Is this really the right position? If so, why can't he fall asleep for so long? But before, he would have been asleep long ago. Thinking about this, the sage hid his beard under the blanket, but there was no sleep in either eye. “Perhaps she should still be lying on the blanket,” the scientist thought, and he put his beard back on the blanket. And so he toiled all night long - beard on the blanket, beard under the blanket - without even closing his eyes for a moment and without receiving an answer to his question.
The next day in the evening he went to meet the young water-carrier.
“My friend,” said the sage, “until now I have slept, adorned with my own beard, and have always had a good sleep.” Since you asked me where my beard lies when I sleep, I can no longer sleep. And I can't answer your question. And my beard, the adornment of my wisdom and my venerable age, became alien to me. I don't know when I'll be reconciled with her again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru