The Camel Story of the Three Brothers of Serendip: Part 1
The story of the three princes of serendip, from which the term serendipity was in some sense derived, is made up of many smaller episodes that lead into one another. One of the more famous of these episodes involves a lost camel.
In this story the three brothers are traveling down a road and meet a camel driver. One of the camel driver’s camels is lost and the driver asks the brothers if the have seen him. The brothers reply that they have not seen the camel. However, ready to impress the camel driver the brothers inquire about some characteristics of the camel. They ask if the camel is blind in one eye, missing a tooth, and lame. The camel drive says that the camel is indeed and hurries off to find the camel.
However, the camel driver is unable to find the camel. Feeling somewhat tricked by the three brothers he returns and asks the brothers again if they have seen the camel. The brothers give him more details about the camel such as: the camel carried a load of butter on one side and honey on the other and that a pregnant woman rode the camel. The camel driver decides that the only way these brothers could know this much about the camel is if they had stolen the camel, and the camel driver has the brothers arrested.
This story will be continued on the first of January.