Why The Sage Kept Silent
Beside a forest lived a sage. One morning a traveller asked him, "I wish to go to the village on the other side of the river. Which one is the better route, the one that goes through the forest or the one which goes by the border of the forest?" The sage kept quiet. The traveller repeated his question several times, but he did not succeed in eliciting any reply from the sage. "You fool!" shouted the traveller and he went away. He soon met on the way a mahout who rode an elephant. "O mahout, can you tell me the right way to the village beyond the hill?" asked the traveller. "Do you see that narrow track? Follow that. Go up straight by that tall tree on the bank of the river and you will find the village," answered the mahout. "Thanks, brother, for giving me the necessary direction. I asked this question to the fellow over there several times, but he would not speak, the fool that he was!" blurted out the traveller and he proceeded along the track pointed out by the mahout. But the mahout felt intrigued. The man of whom the traveller spoke so despisingly was know to the mahout as a sage. He was well known for his wisdom. Many people came to him for his advice. And the traveller says that he was a fool!
While musing on this the mahout came near the sage's hut. He got off the elephant and greeted the sage and asked him, "Why did you not answer the simple question put to you by a traveller a little while ago?" "Never mind that. That is none of your business," said the sage. But the mahout insisted on knowing the reason for the sage's unusual conduct towards the traveller. At last, explained the sage, "The traveller was such a fool that he would not have understood properly even as simple a direction as the way to a village. He would have acted wrongly on my advice and would have blamed me later." The mahout got curious. He turned his elephant and went back to see whether the traveller had followed his direction properly or not. Half an hour later, when mahout approached the tall tree on the river bank, he heard an angry voice, "Look here, you fool, what has happened to me because I followed your direction!" The mahout, to his utter surprise, saw the traveller hanging from the top branch of the tree. He held on to the branch with both his hands, but the branch, on account of his weight, had leaned down.
Below was the river. The traveller's legs dangled a few feet above the strong current. "You asked me to go up by this tree. I climbed it following your suggestion honestly. I found no way after I reached its top. I would have fallen to my death had I not been clever enough to hold on to this branch! Now, would you drive your elephant into the river and let me descend on your shoulder?" asked the traveller. The mahout could not have left the fellow hanging in that fashion. He drove the elephant into the river. But, no sooner had he come under the leaning branch than the elephant, suddenly scared of the current below, ran fast to the other side. The mahout had just caught hold of the traveller's dangling feet in order to help him descend on his shoulder. Now, holding on to the traveller's feet, the mahout too remained suspended over the river. "You are a real fool. Not only you give wrong advice to others, but you also can't even keep your own elephant under control!" ranted the traveller. "Yes, my friend, I am a fool," agreed the mahout in a sad voice.
"Now, let us shout for help," proposed the traveller. "The only risk in shouting is the passers-by who hear us may think that we are attacked either by bandits or by a tiger. They might decide to keep off us," said the mahout. "In that case, let us sing. Do you know the art of music?" asked the traveller. "Even if I knew, I am hardly in a mood to sing in this condition," murmured the mahout. "Then let me sing," said the traveller and he began singing. It was a horrible experience of the mahout to bear the fellow's shrieks, over and above the experience of hanging from his feet. The traveller, upon ending his song demanded, "Don't you know the etiquette? Is it not the custom to show appreciation of a good singer by clapping hands like this?" As the traveller tried to demonstrate how to clap, he fell down into the river along with the mahout. Both had to struggle hard to come ashore. After recovering breath, the traveller said, "This is a strange world where people keep on doing things so foolishly! I better go back home." The Mahout felt like saying, "Yes, it is a strange world for a clever man like you," but he had no courage to make any comment. He looked for his elephant and when he found it, he crossed the river at a safe point and returned to the sage's hut. He silently prostrated himself to the sage and took to the road again.
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