One day Sherlock Holmes instructed Dr Watson to go to the local market and inquire about buying a yellow, handmade Persian carpet with an unsymmetrical pattern from the seller who recently arrived from Asia. After couple of hours Dr Watson returned empty handed and fatigued, and told Holmes that although the seller had the carpet in stock, he refused to sell it and insisted, in quite rude and aggressive manner, on selling 3 canaries instead. The only way Dr Watson was able to escape the shop of this most peculiar man was by lying that he forgot to bring the money but will certainly come back tomorrow and buy the canaries. To that the seller replied that he should hurry up because he will be leaving on Wednesday.
"Excellent!", exclaimed Holmes, and added, "Watson, you better make sure to free your Wednesday afternoon because at 3 o'clock we'll have a meeting with a truly remarkable man!"
"But, Holmes!", cried Dr. Watson, "Who is this crazy man, and how do you know he is going to meet us on Wednesday, or on any other day for that matter, if we never spoke of any meeting and I never mentioned your name?!"
"Oh, dear Watson, but you did, you did indeed", smiled Holmes. "Remember that I instructed you to ask specifically about a handmade carpet with an unsymmetrical pattern. And every good and honest seller of Persian carpets knows that authentic Persian carpets are handmade and carry only symmetrical patterns. So when you asked for a handmade carpet, an indication that you have done your homework, but then mentioned that you need the one with an unsymmetrical pattern, he instantly knew that you didn't come there for a carpet but with a message. A message from yours truly, because for one, yellow is the color of an intellect, and second, I am currently the only one beside Mr Gurdjieff who is well versed in the language of symbolism in this city."
"Amazing.", said Dr Watson, "But what about the answer? How did he know that I'll lie to him about coming back tomorrow or if I'll mention all the details of the encounter?"
"Well, my dear friend", said Holmes and took a long puff on his pipe, "Mr Gurdjieff is a very good judge of character, and after you, no doubt, introduced yourself as Doctor, he knew that as any so called educated man in the nowadays and obsessed with etiquette society, you would choose to extricate yourself from an uncomfortable situation with a polite but an obvious lie. As for remembering the details, Mr Gurdjieff is no doubt aware of the phenomenal ability of flesh-mechanics to be able to memorize most complicated structures. And yet, your eye for details was misdirected and you overlooked a rather simple fact".
"Oh, and what was that?"
"Elementary, my dear Watson, these were not canaries!" ***
***˙ʍoɹɹɐds ǝɥʇ uo sı ǝʎǝ sıH
"Excellent!", exclaimed Holmes, and added, "Watson, you better make sure to free your Wednesday afternoon because at 3 o'clock we'll have a meeting with a truly remarkable man!"
"But, Holmes!", cried Dr. Watson, "Who is this crazy man, and how do you know he is going to meet us on Wednesday, or on any other day for that matter, if we never spoke of any meeting and I never mentioned your name?!"
"Oh, dear Watson, but you did, you did indeed", smiled Holmes. "Remember that I instructed you to ask specifically about a handmade carpet with an unsymmetrical pattern. And every good and honest seller of Persian carpets knows that authentic Persian carpets are handmade and carry only symmetrical patterns. So when you asked for a handmade carpet, an indication that you have done your homework, but then mentioned that you need the one with an unsymmetrical pattern, he instantly knew that you didn't come there for a carpet but with a message. A message from yours truly, because for one, yellow is the color of an intellect, and second, I am currently the only one beside Mr Gurdjieff who is well versed in the language of symbolism in this city."
"Amazing.", said Dr Watson, "But what about the answer? How did he know that I'll lie to him about coming back tomorrow or if I'll mention all the details of the encounter?"
"Well, my dear friend", said Holmes and took a long puff on his pipe, "Mr Gurdjieff is a very good judge of character, and after you, no doubt, introduced yourself as Doctor, he knew that as any so called educated man in the nowadays and obsessed with etiquette society, you would choose to extricate yourself from an uncomfortable situation with a polite but an obvious lie. As for remembering the details, Mr Gurdjieff is no doubt aware of the phenomenal ability of flesh-mechanics to be able to memorize most complicated structures. And yet, your eye for details was misdirected and you overlooked a rather simple fact".
"Oh, and what was that?"
"Elementary, my dear Watson, these were not canaries!" ***
***˙ʍoɹɹɐds ǝɥʇ uo sı ǝʎǝ sıH
It will be fun making continuation to the story.
