Crossing a River, Losing a Self

A Folktale from India

A guru and his disciples (all fools) were making their way across the countryside on a pilgrimage when they came to the banks of a wide river. The guru recognized the river at once as a renown, treacherous river that had claimed many lives and warned his disciples that they should never cross a river while it was awake. He instructed one of them to check to see if it was asleep by taking one of the logs from the fire and touching it to the water. Upon doing this, the river hissed and smoked which the guru explained must mean that it was awake. 

They decided to wait until the river was asleep. In the mean time they gathered around the fire and while they were resting one of the disciples revealed that his own grandfather had been a victim of the cruel river. 

"My grandfather was a merchant who once crossed this river with a load of salt. When he got to the other side he discovered that this horrible river had eaten all of the salt while the bags were tightly stitched and there were no holes to be found in the bags! We therefore cannot trust this river. I'm glad we decided to set up camp so far from its banks."

When they awoke in the morning, the guru instructed one of the disciples to test the water again. He took the same log and stuck it into the river, but this time there was no hissing sound or smoke so the guru declared it safe to cross. When they reached the other side they began to rejoice that they had safely crossed. But the suspicious disciple - the one who had told the story of the river's treachery - put an end to their revelry. 

"Let us be sure we have all crossed safely. I believe there were thirteen of us before, if we count ourselves and find that there are still thirteen we may continue to enjoy our good fortune."

The guru thought this a wise idea, so he counted all of his disciples (forgetting to include himself). When he reached twelve at the end of the line, the group became upset for they could not remember who they had lost on the way. So they decided to count again, but with the same results. As they were lamenting the lost friend they could not remember, a woman passed by to cross the river. 

"Please don't cross, the river is in a terrible mood today - see it has gobbled up one of our dear friends! We were once a group of thirteen, but now as you can plainly see, we are only twelve. We fear that if you continue you will come to the same fate as our fallen colleague!"

The woman saw at once that this was a band of idiots. She told them that she possessed a magic power that could bring their friend back from the river if they would follow her instructions. They eagerly agreed and she told them to go to the market, purchase a cartful of cow manure and lay it down in a line in front of them. They hurried off to do this and in no time had spread the manure into a line. 

"Now, all of you should kneel, close your eyes and stick your noses in the manure."

They did as she instructed and when they stood up she told them to count the dents they had made in the dung. Each of them scurried up to count and to their great surprise they found thirteen nose marks in the manure. They were greatly amazed and left singing praises to the wise woman who was able to save one of them from the terrible river.