SUFI06-DeadSnakeGrew

1. In a village where a Sufi sage resided, a farmer from that village killed a snake approximately two feet long behind his house. Rushing inside, he excitedly informed his wife and son, "I have killed a snake three feet long." 2. Startled, his wife proudly relayed to a neighboring woman, "My husband single-handedly killed a five-foot-long snake, did you know?" This woman, in turn, shared with her friend on the neighboring street, "Someone in our street has slain a ten-foot-long snake." Upon hearing this, the friend called out to her cousin from the neighboring village, "One of our villagers has vanquished a thirty-foot-long serpent!" 3. Observing this unfolding narrative, a wise man in the village cautioned, "Exaggeration only fuels imagination, leaving truth obscured." 4. Reflecting on this, the farmer realized how his account had inflated from two feet to three and now to thirty. Despite this, he hesitated to relinquish the glory of "slaying the thirty-foot snake." Curiously, he inquired about the newly arrived sage's knowledge of his heroic deed. 5. Promptly, the sage summoned the farmer's five-year-old son. "Did your father kill the thirty-foot snake?" he inquired. However, the boy gazed back in astonishment and queried, "Sir, can a dead snake grow?" he asked. 6. The sage burst into laughter upon hearing this. Sensing something amiss, the boy had rushed to inspect the dead snake as soon as his father had relayed the incident. Knowing it was merely a two-foot-long snake, he questioned the townspeople, "If everyone had investigated the truth like this boy, rumors wouldn't have spread." Hearing this, the villagers bowed their heads in acknowledgment.