A Bedouin was riding along on his camel, and the camel was carrying two huge sacks, one on each side.
"What's in those two sacks?" a man asked the Bedouin.
"There's grain in this sack," replied the Bedouin, "and there's sand in this sack."
The man was puzzled. "What do you need a sack of sand for?"
"To keep things in balance," the Bedouin explained.
"You fool!" said the man. "You can pour out the sand, and then pour half of the grain into that sack. The weight will be balanced, and the load will be lighter for your camel!"
Inspired by: The English prose version of Rumi in Tales from the Masnavi by A. J. Arberry.
Notes: This is story 58 in the book. Rumi goes on to have the Bedouin and the man continue talking and when the Bedouin finds out that the man is an impoverished philosopher, he sends him away and rejects his advice: "Better for me is one sack of wheat and another of sand than all your brilliant machinations."
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