Many years ago, four young friends went on a trip. They joined a large caravan and went through the Ka-vir desert. One of the young people was a graphic artist, another a poet, a third a writer, and a fourth a scientist.
In the evening they all sat together around a large fire and shared their travel impressions. All four were wildly delighted with the camels. The camels' unpretentiousness, endurance, strength and incomprehensible patience amazed all four.
“We are all excellent with the pen,” said the artist for fun. “Let’s write or draw something ingenious in honor of the camel and glorify the worthy animal in our immortal creations.”
With these words, he took the parchment scroll and headed into the tent where the lamp was burning. A few minutes later the young man came out and showed his work to his friends. He drew a camel standing up after resting in one elegant line. The artist did the drawing so well that the camel seemed alive. The writer entered the tent and, after spending a little more time, returned to the fire with a short but comprehensive essay on the benefits that camels bring to the caravan. The third traveler wrote a charming poem impromptu, calling it “Ode to a Camel.” Finally, the fourth of the friends, a scientist, went to the tent and asked not to disturb him. Several hours passed, the fire in the fire had long gone out, the friends fell asleep, and the creak of a pen and monotonous muttering could still be heard from the dimly lit tent.
In vain the friends waited for their friend for breakfast the next day. He did not come out on the third day or on the fourth... The tent hid him as securely as the earth that once closed behind Aladdin. Finally, at the end of the fifth day, the most diligent of all the diligent ones came out of the tent. Black shadows framed his eyes, his cheeks were sunken, and his chin was covered in stubble. With a tired gait and an expression of extreme superiority on his haggard face, he walked up to his friends and proudly placed a huge bundle of parchment scrolls on the carpet in front of them. On the outside of the first scroll was written in large letters in full width: “On the question of the Ideal Camel, or the Camel, what it should be. Dissertation research..."
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru