to the left,' says
della Corta."

"How dare you accuse me--" At this point they were interrupted. A
young man, deeply preoccupied with thinking about the purpose of
mankind, had just bounced his head against a tree and--ah, but this
is where you came in.

A Tale Revealing the Wisdom Of Being a Cork on the River of Life

Once upon a time, not very far from a town pretty much like yours,
an old, nearsighted man was wandering down a country road quite
pleasantly, musing to himself thusly: "I wonder what I should seek
today? Some new treasure of the Orient, or a lost clue to the
secrets of nature? That would be nice, as I spit" (and here, had
there been but a small brass spittoon by the wayside, a clear ring
would have sounded across the nearby pastures), "but," continued the
old man, "this is pretty barren ground hereabouts, so I'd best not
set my hopes too high. I'll start by looking for a silver dollar."

With this thought, the man's eyes brightened and he continued now
more alertly down the road, staring intently at the ground and
knocking little pebbles around with his cane. After a little, he
thought he saw something ahead. Mending his pace somewhat, he
hurried (as an old man with a cane hurries) up to the object, which
he now believed to be a quarter. When he stooped down to pick it
up, however, he found it to be merely a bottle cap, covered with red
ants eating the remaining sugar. "Just what I was looking for!"
exclaimed the old man with glee, even though the ants began to sting
him on the thumb and forefinger. "Bottlecaps can be very useful."
So he put the new possession into his pocket and once more began his
stroll, still watching the ground.

He had hardly begun to wonder what he might find next, when, there,
just a little way off, he saw a pearl lying in the roadbed.
"Surely," he thought, "nothing is round or shiny exactly like a
pearl, so I could not be mistaken this time." So he began to amble
over without delay. As he came nearer, his joy increased. "Hee
hee!" the old man laughed, before stifling his mirth lest he call
attention to himself and bring competitors for his newfound
treasure. He even paused a moment and looked around to see if
anyone had noticed him or the pearl.

The way seemed clear so he closed the final distance, reached down,
and picked it up. Instantly he was aware that this was no pearl,
but just a partly dried up chicken brain, which must have fallen off
so