The Woodcutter and the Axe Version 2008

The Woodcutter and the Axe Version 2008

Once upon a time, there was a software engineer who used to develop programs

on his Pentium machine, sitting under a tree on the banks of a river. He

used to earn his bread by selling those programs in the Sunday market.

One day, while he was working, his machine tumbled off the table and fell in

the river. Encouraged by the Panchatantra story of his childhood (the

woodcutter and the axe), he started praying to the River Goddess.

The River Goddess wanted to test him and so appeared only after one month of

rigorous prayers. The engineer told her that he had lost his computer in the

river.

As usual, the Goddess wanted to test his honesty. She showed him a match box

and asked, "Is this your computer ?" Disappointed by the Goddess' lack of

computer awareness, the engineer replied, "No."

She next showed him a pocket-sized calculator and asked if that was his.

Annoyed, the engineer said "No, not at all!!"

Finally, she came up with his own Pentium machine and asked if it was his.

The engineer, left with no option, sighed and said "Yes."

The River Goddess was happy with his honesty. She was about to give him all

three items, but before she could make the offer, the engineer asked her,

"Don't you know that you're supposed to show me some better computers before

bringing up my own ?"

The River Goddess, angered at this, replied, "I know that, you stupid

donkey! The first two things I showed you were the Trillennium and the

Billennium, the latest computers from IBM!". So saying, she disappeared with

the Pentium!!

Moral: If you're not up-to-date with technology trends, it's better keep

your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth

and remove all doubt . . .