The Twelve Wise Men
Once upon a time, there lived twelve ‘’wise men’’. They were not really wise ; actually
there were not really wise; actually they were foolish. People called theme wise for fun
because these men always did foolish things.
One morning, the twelve men went to a river for fishing. They fished from morning till
noon. Then they started back home.
On their way, one of them said, ‘’we must count and see whether all of us are present or
not. While we were fishing, one of us might have fallen into the river.’’
So he began to count.’’ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven…
only eleven of us are here. Alas! One of us is missing.’’ He said this and started crying
loudly. All of them began to cry.
‘’oh, this is very sad indeed! ‘’cried another. ‘’but you may not have counted properly.
Let me count and see. ‘’so he began to count. He too counted only eleven.
Likewise, all of them counted in turn. They concluded that one of them must have fallen
into the river and died. They were very sad.
They decided to go back to the river and search for their missing friend. They searched
for the dead body till evening. But they did not find it. Finally, they gave up hope. They
felt very sad. So they sat down and started crying again.
Then a stranger came that way. He paused before the men and asks. ‘’what happened
to you? Why are you crying? ‘’They said, ‘’sir, the morning, twelve of us set out for
fishing. But now we find that one of us is missing. Will you please help us to find our
missing friend?’’.
The man looked at them and smiled. At a glance, he saw that all the twelve men were
there. He asked them’’ well, what will you give me if I find your missing friend?’’
``A bag of gold!’ they shouted together. The stranger made them stand up. He started
counting,’ one, two, and three and ...’’. He came to the last man and said, `Here is the
twelfth man.’’ The twelve wise men could not believe their eyes! They all jumped joy.
The stranger said, `oh! You foolish men, when you counted you forget to count yourself.’
The twelve men felt ashamed of their folly.
Yet they were happy because they did not lose any of them. They went home laughing
and talking loudly.
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