ABSTRACT

An ancient Indian parable tells of a traveller who lost his way in a dense forest. Trying to find his way out he encountered a wild elephant which charged at him, trunk upraised. Terrified, the traveller looked for refuge. As the parable concludes, he finds himself hanging on a clump of reeds growing from the wall of an old well, while two mice are busily gnawing the roots of the reeds. Waiting patiently at the bottom of the well were many snakes. Among them, a hugh python, its mouth wide open, ready to catch the miserable traveller when the mice had finished their meal. 1