Khalil Gibran (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Three ants met on the nose of a man who was asleep in the sun. And after they had saluted one another, each according to the custom of his tribe, they stood there conversing.
The first ant said, “These hills and plains are the most barren I have known. I have searched all day for a grain of some sort, and there is none to be found.”
Said the second ant, “I too have found nothing, though I have visited every nook and glade. This is, I believe, what my people call the soft, moving land where nothing grows.”
Then the third ant raised his head and said, “My friends, we are standing now on the nose of the Supreme Ant, the mighty and infinite Ant, whose body is so great that we cannot see it, whose shadow is so vast that we cannot trace it, whose voice is so loud that we cannot hear it; and He is omnipresent.”
When the third ant spoke thus the other ants looked at each other and laughed.
At that moment the man moved and in his sleep raised his hand and scratched his nose, and the three ants were crushed.
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Source of the parable: The Madman: His Parables and Poems
Available at: The Project Gutenberg, retrieved: Oct. 1, 2023
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Khalil Gibran, according to Joan Acocella (The New Yorker, Dec. 20, 2007), is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi (retrieved: July 20, 2015). Some also refer to him as Kahlil Gibran.