Once, a teacher had many disciples. Among them was a foolish disciple. The teacher thought, ‘Every being can learn. I am sure I can make this disciple a learned man.’ One day, the teacher saw a snake and said to the foolish disciple, “Look! This snake looks like a long rope.” The teacher made this comparison to show the length of the snake. The foolish disciple kept quiet. One day, the teacher asked the foolish disciple to get him a long rope. The foolish disciple came back after a couple of hours. He handed out a snake to his teacher. The teacher was working, so he took the snake without looking. But, he immediately realised that it was not a rope. He was shocked to see the snake and immediately threw it away. He screamed, “Just because I told you that a snake looks like a rope, you brought a snake instead of a rope. Alas, you will remain foolish always!”
The Snake and the Foolish Disciple
