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There was once an Astronomer whose habit it was to go out at

night and observe the stars. One night, as he was walking about

outside the town gates, gazing up absorbed into the sky and not

looking where he was going, he fell into a dry well. As he lay

there groaning, some one passing by heard him, and, coming to the

edge of the well, looked down and, on learning what had happened,

said, "If you really mean to say that you were looking so hard at

the sky that you didn't even see where your feet were carrying

you along the ground, it appears to me that you deserve all

you've got."

THE LABOURER AND THE SNAKE