The Insight of the Bedouin

An Arab lost his companion and a camel in the desert. He searched for them all day but couldn’t find them. In the evening, he met a Bedouin. The Arab was overjoyed and began asking about his missing companion and the camel.

"Is your companion fat and lame?" asked the Bedouin.

"Yes. Where is he?" exclaimed the Arab.

"I don’t know where he is. But tell me, was he carrying a stick? And was his camel one-eyed and carrying dates, right?"

The man became even more excited and hurriedly shouted:

"Yes, yes! That’s my companion and his camel. But I’m exhausted. How will I search for them in this heat?! When did you see them? Where did they go?"

The Bedouin replied:

"I haven’t seen them, and since yesterday, I haven’t met anyone except you."

"Are you mocking me?!" the Arab interrupted angrily. "How can you deceive me when you just described my companion and his camel in detail?"

"Yes, I haven’t seen him," the Bedouin calmly repeated. "And yet I know that he rested under this palm tree for a long time and then headed toward Syria. And all this happened three hours ago."

"How do you know all this if you haven’t seen him?!" exclaimed the Arab.

"I haven’t seen him," replied the Bedouin. "But I learned about him from his tracks."

He took the Arab by the hand, led him to the footprints in the sand, and said:

"Look at these tracks. These are footprints of a man, this is a camel’s hoofprint, and this is the mark of a stick. Look at the man’s footprints. Do you see that the imprint of the left foot is deeper and larger than the right? Doesn’t that suggest that the person who passed here is lame? Now compare his footprints to mine—he left deeper imprints than I do. Doesn’t that mean he’s heavier than me?"

The Arab was amazed and said:

"That’s all very well. But tell me, how did you know the camel had one eye? After all, its eye didn’t touch the sand."

"That’s true," laughed the Bedouin. "Its eye didn’t touch the ground. And yet it left its mark. Don’t you see that the camel was grazing only on the right side? Doesn’t that suggest the camel has one eye and therefore only sees one side of the road?"

The Arab was even more astonished and asked:

"And what trace did the dates leave?"

The Bedouin walked forward about twenty steps and said:

"Look at these ants gathered here. Don’t you see they’re attracted by the juice of the dates?"

The Arab was silent for a long time, then finally asked:

"And the time? How could you determine the time?"

The Bedouin pointed to the palm tree and said:

"Look here. Don’t you see that your companion rested here with his camel?"

"But how did you figure out it was three hours ago?"

The Bedouin laughed again and explained:

"Look at the shadow of the palm tree. Surely you don’t think a person would refuse the shade and sit in the sun to rest? Of course, your companion rested in the shade. I’m a nomad, and I know it takes about three hours for the shadow from his resting place to move to where it is now."

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The Insight of the Bedouin

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