The Wise Men of Gotham

The Wise Men of Gotham

Once there was an English village called Gotham. Its people were famous far beyond their fields, though not always for the reasons they expected.

One morning several villagers found a cuckoo sitting in a bush.

“If we keep the cuckoo here,” said one man, “summer will never leave.”

“A brilliant idea!”

They built a fence around the bush.

The cuckoo looked at the fence, spread its wings, and flew away.

The villagers stared.

“We should have built it higher.”

Another day, twelve men went fishing. On the way home, they became worried that someone might have drowned.

“We must count ourselves.”

The first man counted everyone except himself.

“One, two, three... eleven! One of us is missing!”

Each man counted and made the same mistake.

They began mourning their lost friend.

A traveler came along.

“What happened?”

“There were twelve of us, and now there are only eleven!”

The traveler looked at them.

“Stand in a line.”

He tapped each man lightly on the shoulder while counting.

“One, two, three... twelve.”

The villagers cheered.

“You found our missing man!”

The traveler smiled and continued down the road.

Not long afterward, two men bought a sheep together.

“Where will we keep it?” asked the first.

“In my field.”

“No, in mine.”

They argued so loudly that neighbors gathered.

Finally someone asked:

“Where is the sheep?”

The two men looked at each other.

“We have not bought it yet.”

The neighbors laughed.

“Perhaps buy the sheep before fighting over its field.”

Another villager wanted to send a round cheese to market. He was tired and did not want to carry it.

“The cheese is round,” he thought. “It can travel by itself.”

He rolled it down a hill.

The cheese bounced once, twice, and disappeared into a hedge.

“Good,” said the man. “It knows the road.”

He reached the market and waited all day.

The cheese never arrived.

On the way home, he found birds enjoying what remained of it.

“So the cheese chose another destination,” he sighed.

Another time, villagers noticed the moon reflected in a pond.

“The moon has fallen into the water!”

They brought ropes, hooks, and poles.

One hook caught on a root.

“Pull!”

Everyone pulled together.

The root suddenly broke free. The men tumbled backward and looked up.

There was the moon, shining in the sky.

“We saved it!”

The stories spread from village to village.

People laughed at the Wise Men of Gotham.

But the people of Gotham did not mind much.

“If someone laughs,” they said, “at least the world becomes a little more cheerful.”

And perhaps they were not always as foolish as they seemed.

According to one old story, a powerful king once planned to travel through Gotham. The villagers feared that royal officials would take their fields or demand expensive hospitality.

“What shall we do?”

“Let us behave so strangely that they decide Gotham is not worth visiting.”

So when royal messengers arrived, they saw villagers trying to fence in a cuckoo, arguing about imaginary sheep, and searching for a missing twelfth man who was standing among them.

The messengers hurried away.

“Your Majesty, perhaps choose another road. Gotham is a very peculiar place.”

The king did.

The villagers smiled.

Sometimes looking foolish can be a surprisingly clever disguise.

Years passed, and neighboring villages kept telling stories about Gotham’s “wise men.”

The Gotham villagers added new ones themselves.

Once they tried to send payment by tying coins around a hare’s neck.

“He will run quickly!”

The hare certainly did. Straight into a field of carrots.

The next day they used an ordinary messenger.

From then on, when someone in Gotham proposed arguing about a sheep not yet purchased, sending cheese alone to market, or counting everyone except himself, the neighbors did not immediately mock him.

First they asked:

“Is there a lesson hiding in this?”

And usually there was.

Check before deciding.

Do not quarrel about things that do not yet exist.

Do not expect nature to obey foolish plans.

And when counting everyone, remember to count yourself.

That is why the Wise Men of Gotham remain famous.

Whether they were truly foolish, secretly clever, or a little of both is something every storyteller may decide for themselves.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨