Aesop's Fable 40. Thales and the Old Woman

Thales was the first Greek philosopher, and he is counted as one of the "Seven Sages" of ancient Greece. He was also famous as a mathematician and as an astronomer. He spent a lot of time watching the sun and the moon and the stars, trying to understand the laws that governed their movements. He often left the city around sunset in order to get the best possible view of the sky at night.

One evening as Thales was walking along and gazing intently up at the sky, he did not see a big rock in the road just in front of him. He stumbled over the rock and hit the ground hard. As he slowly and painfully got back up, he heard the sound of someone laughing. He looked around and saw an old woman who had also been walking along the road behind him. "O great sage," she shouted, "while you are looking up at the sky, you should also keep an eye on the ground in front of you!"

The moral of the story is that you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. If Thales lived in the modern world, we might also have to remind him not to text while driving! 

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