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“Pray tell me of your wisdom what is wrong with my mare?”

“How should I know?” asked Pericles.

“I thought you knew everything,” returned the carter, in surprise.

“I do,” declared Pericles; “but you have not told me what her symptoms are.”

“She refuses to eat anything,” said the carter.

“Then she is not hungry,” returned Pericles; “for neither man nor beast will refuse to eat when hungry.”

And the people who heard him whispered together and said,

“Surely this is a wise man, for he has told the carter what is wrong with his mare.”

After a few days the fame of Pericles’ sayings came to the ears of both Socrates and Sophocles, and they resolved to see him, for each feared he would prove more wise than they were, knowing themselves to be arrant humbugs. So one morning the three wise men met together outside the hut of Pericles, and they sat themselves down upon stools, facing each other, while a great crowd of people gathered around to hear the words of wisdom that dropped from their lips.

But for a time all three were silent, and regarded one another anxiously, for each feared he might betray himself.

Finally Sophocles winked his one eye at the others and said, in a grave voice,

“The earth is flat; for, were it round, as some fools say, all the people would slide off the surface.”

Then the people, who had listened eagerly, clapped their hands together and murmured,

“Sophocles is wisest of all. What he says is truth.”

This provoked Socrates greatly, for he felt his reputation was in danger; so he said with a frown,

“The world is shallow, like a dish; were it flat the water would all run over the edges, and we should have no oceans.”

Then the people applauded more loudly than before, and cried,

“Socrates is right the is wisest of all.”

Pericles, at this, shifted uneasily upon his stool, for he knew he must dispute the matter boldly or his fame would depart from him. Therefore he said, with grave deliberation,

“You are wrong, my friends. The world is hollow, like the shell of a cocoanut, and we are all inside the shell. The sky above us is the roof, and if you go out upon the ocean you will come to a place, no matter in which direction you go, where the sky and the water meet. I know this is true, for I have been to sea.”

The people cheered loudly at this, and said,

“Long live Pericles, the wisest of the wise men!”

“I shall hold I am right,” protested Sophocles, “until Pericles and Socrates prove that I am wrong.”

“That is fair enough,” said the people.

“And I also shall hold myself to be right until they prove me wrong,” declared Socrates, firmly.

“I know I am right,” said Pericles, “for you cannot prove me wrong.”

“We can take a boat and sail over the sea,” remarked Socrates, “and when we come to the edge we will know the truth. Will you go?”

“Yes,” answered Sophocles; and Pericles, because he did not dare refuse, said “Yes” also.

Then they went to the shore of the sea, and the people followed them. There was no boat to be found anywhere, for the fishers were all away upon the water; but there was a big wooden bowl lying upon the shore, which the fishermen used to carry their fish to market in.

“This will do,” said Pericles, who, because he weighed the most, was the greatest fool of the three.

So the wise men all sat within the bowl, with their feet together, and the people pushed them out into the water.

The tide caught the bowl and floated it out to sea, and before long the wise men were beyond sight of land.

They were all greatly frightened, for the bowl was old and cracked, and the water leaked slowly through until their feet were covered. They clung to the edge with their hands and looked at one another with white faces. Said Pericles,

“I was a fool to come to sea in this bowl.”

“Ah,” remarked Socrates, “if you are a fool, as you confess, then you cannot be a wise man.”

“No,” answered Pericles, “but I ‘ll soon be a dead man.”

“I also was a fool,” said Sophocles, who was weeping from his one eye and trembling all over, “for if I had stayed upon land I would not have been drowned.”

“Since you both acknowledge it,” sighed Socrates, “I will confess that I also am a fool, and have always been one; but I looked so wise the people insisted I must know everything!”

“Yes, yes,” Sophocles groaned, “the people have murdered us!”

“My only regret,” said Pericles, “is that my wife is not with me. If only she were here”–

He did not finish what he was saying, for just then the bowl broke in two. And the people are still waiting for the three wise men to come back to them.