One day a merchant traveled along the desert on his camel that was laden with merchandise. After traveling for a long time the merchant became very tired. When he saw two palm trees providing shade he went under them to take a rest. He tied his camel to one of the trees and settled in to take a little nap.
Some time later, the merchant woke up to find his camel had managed to free himself from the rope and was now wandering in the desert. He searched for the camel behind the sand dunes in the area but he could not find him. So the merchant sat down to think and was very worried.
Then a man passed by and asked, “Did you lose a limping camel who cannot see from one eye?” The merchant excitedly answered, “Yes.” Then the stranger asked, “Was he carrying honey on one side and wheat on the other side?” Again the owner said this was true. He asked the stranger to tell him where the camel was. The stranger laughed and said, “I have not seen him.” The merchant did not believe this. The two men started arguing, then decided to go to the Judge.
The Judge asked the stranger if he was the thief and the stranger said he was not. So the Judge asked who the thief was, but the stranger said he did not know. Then the Judge said, “How then did you know all the information about the missing camel?” The stranger replied, “I spent my days traveling in the wilderness which taught me to have very strong observation skills.”
The Judge said, “Then tell me how you knew about this trader’s camel.” The stranger said, “I saw the footprints of a camel and I knew that he was lost from his owner because I did not see any human footsteps with him. I also noticed that he only ate the plants from one side so I knew that he could not see out of one eye.
Then I noticed that the footprints of one foot were very light so I knew that he had a limp. The ants that were crawling toward one side led me to believe that he was carrying wheat on that side. The insects that were cluttered around the other side told me that he was carrying honey on the other side.
The Judge was amazed by how the man was able to figure all this out. He ordered him to be set free. The stranger and the merchant set out to look for the missing camel. They found him near the spot where the stranger had seen the footprints. The merchant took his camel and thanked the smart stranger for his help.
