Jill Jones got a new job in a different part of the city. She had to go to
work every day bu train.#
There was only one other person in the train with her. This was a well-dressed
man reading a newspaper.#
Suddenly, about halfway through the journey, the man began tearing his
newspaper in to hundreds of small pieces. Then he picked them up, opened the
window and threw them all out.#
This done, he sat down, closed his eyes, and slept for the rest of the journey.#
The next day, Jill Jones got into the same train. The same well-dressed man
was there, reading the newspaper.#
As before, about halfway through the journey, then man began tearing his
newspaper into hundreds of small pieces. Then he picked the pieces up, opened
the window and threw them all out.#
This done, he sat down, closed his eyes, and slept for the rest of the journey.#
This happened every day for a week.#
At last, on Friday, Jill Jones spoke to the man.#
"Excuse me, sir," she said, "I don't want to be rude, but I must ask you a
question. When we are halfway through our journey, you tear your newspaper
into hundreds of pieces and then throw them all out of the window. Please tell
me, sir. Why do you do this?"#
The well-dressed man smiled. "There's a simple reason," he said. "I like to
sleep for part of the journey, but I cannot sleep if the train is full of
elephants. So I throw the pieces of paper out to the elephants. It stops them
from coming into the train."#
"But there aren't any elephants in the train," Jill Jones said.#
"I know," the man said. "It works well, doesn't it?"&