a farmer’s dog discovered a fox and chased it out of the farmyard and on to the high road.
the fox climbed a tree on the other side of the road. the dog clawed at the trunk of the tree and barked at the fox.
a wanderer came down the road, and encountered the dog and the farmer looking up at the fox in the tree.
the wanderer said, if that dog were a cat, it could climb the tree.
the wanderer passed on. the farmer and the fox watched him disappear down the road, in the direction of the mountain.
the wanderer came to a house by the side of the road, that was on fire.
a widow and her three children and a dog were standing outside the house, watching it burn.
if the house had been made of water, the wanderer said, it would not have burned.
the wanderer continued down the road. the widow and the children watched him go, but the smoke from the fire obscured his path.
the wanderer came to another farmer, and yet another dog. they were gazing sadly at a barren field, whose wheat had been devoured by locusts.
if the locusts had been rose petals, said the wanderer, they would not have devoured the wheat.
the farmer nodded, the dog barked once, not very loudly, and the wanderer continued on his way.
next the wanderer encountered a wise man seated on a rock, with a book in his hands. the wise man was weeping.
nobody wishes to read my book, he said to the wanderer, though it filled with wisdom.
if the book were a beautiful maiden, the wanderer replied, many would wish to look upon it.
the wanderer moved on, the mountain was now casting its shadow on the road.
finally the wanderer came to the mountain, where the road ended.
a single locust was seated by the side of the road .
if that mountain were a river, the wanderer said, and i were a bird, i would fly across it.
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