The Seaside Travelers

Summary

The story involves travelers on a seaside journey who climb a cliff and believe they see a large ship approaching in the distance. As they wait for it to enter the harbor, the object inches closer, and they realize it is much smaller than they initially thought, possibly just a small boat. Upon its arrival at the shore, it turns out to be nothing more than a bundle of sticks. This discovery leads one traveler to reflect on the futility of their anticipation, as they awaited something grand that was ultimately insignificant. The narrative underscores themes of perception and expectation versus reality, highlighting how appearances can be misleading and how sometimes anticipated outcomes can be underwhelming.

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Some Travelers, journeying along the seashore, climbed to the summit of a tall cliff, and looking over the sea, saw in the distance what they thought was a large ship. They waited in the hope of seeing it enter the harbor, but as the object on which they looked was driven nearer to shore by the wind, they found that it could at the most be a small boat, and not a ship. When however it reached the beach, they discovered that it was only a large faggot of sticks, and one of them said to his companions, “We have waited for no purpose, for after all there is nothing to see but a load of wood.”