The Boasting Traveler

Summary

The story highlights the theme of boasting and the value of demonstrating one's abilities instead of relying on exaggerated claims. It presents a scenario where a traveler returning from abroad brags about his incredible achievements, including a remarkable leap he claimed to have made while in Rhodes. However, a skeptical bystander challenges him to replicate the feat without the need for witnesses. This interaction underscores a moral lesson about proving one's capabilities through actions rather than empty words, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and humility.

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A Man who had traveled in foreign lands boasted very much, on returning to his own country, of the many wonderful and heroic feats he had performed in the different places he had visited. Among other things, he said that when he was at Rhodes he had leaped to such a distance that no man of his day could leap anywhere near him as to that, there were in Rhodes many persons who saw him do it and whom he could call as witnesses. One of the bystanders interrupted him, saying: “Now, my good man, if this be all true there is no need of witnesses. Suppose this to be Rhodes, and leap for us.”