When an accident deprived the village headman of the use of his legs, he took to
walking on crutches. He gradually developed the ability to move with speed-even to
dance and execute little pirouettes for the entertainment of his neighbours.
Then he took it into his head to train his children in the use of crutches. It
soon became a status symbol in the village to walk on crutches and before long
everyone was doing so.
By the fourth generation no one in the village could walk without crutches. The
village school included “Crutchery-Theoretical-Applied” in its curriculum and the
village craftsmen became famous for the quality of the crutches they produced.
There was even talk of developing an electronic, battery-operated set of crutches!
One day a Young Turk presented himself before the village elders and demanded to
know why everyone had to walk on crutches since God had provided people with legs
to walk on. The village elders were amused that this upstart should think himself
wiser than them so they decided to teach him a lesson. “Why don’t you show us
how?” they said.
“Agreed,” cried the young man.
A demonstration was fixed for ten o’clock on the following Sunday at the village
square. Everyone was there when the young man hobbled on his crutches to the
middle of the square and, when the village clock began to strike the hour, stood
upright and dropped his crutches. A hush fell on the crowd as he took a bold step
forward-and fell flat on his face.
With that everyone was confirmed in their belief that it was quite impossible to
walk without the help of crutches.
🙂
When an accident deprived the village headman of the use of his legs, he took to
walking on crutches. He gradually developed the ability to move with speed-even to
dance and execute little pirouettes for the entertainment of his neighbours.
Then he took it into his head to train his children in the use of crutches. It
soon became a status symbol in the village to walk on crutches and before long
everyone was doing so.
By the fourth generation no one in the village could walk without crutches. The
village school included “Crutchery-Theoretical-Applied” in its curriculum and the
village craftsmen became famous for the quality of the crutches they produced.
There was even talk of developing an electronic, battery-operated set of crutches!
One day a Young Turk presented himself before the village elders and demanded to
know why everyone had to walk on crutches since God had provided people with legs
to walk on. The village elders were amused that this upstart should think himself
wiser than them so they decided to teach him a lesson. “Why don’t you show us
how?” they said.
“Agreed,” cried the young man.
A demonstration was fixed for ten o’clock on the following Sunday at the village
square. Everyone was there when the young man hobbled on his crutches to the
middle of the square and, when the village clock began to strike the hour, stood
upright and dropped his crutches. A hush fell on the crowd as he took a bold step
forward-and fell flat on his face.
With that everyone was confirmed in their belief that it was quite impossible to
walk without the help of crutches.
🙂