14 No Elephants

Jill Jones got a new job in a different part of the city. She had to go to work every day by train.

There was only one other person on the train with her. He was a well-dressed man reading a newspaper.

Suddenly, about halfway through the journey, the man began tearing his newspaper into 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 got on the same train. The same well-dressed man was there, reading a newspaper.

As before, about halfway through the journey, the 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 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 on the train, ” Jill said.

“I know, ” the man said. “It works well, doesn't it? ”