28 Searching for Tails


Searching for Tails

Johnny the Lizard lived between some rocks out in the country. Like all lizards, he loved to just lie in the sun, laid out on some flat stone. He felt so relaxed doing so, more than once he fell asleep doing just this. That is exactly what had happened on the day he lost his tail. Some children caught him, and Johnny could only escape by losing his tail and running and hiding.

Shocked and frightened, he listened to how the children laughed at seeing his tail continue to move, even though it was no longer attached to his body. After a bit, they threw the tail away.  When the children had gone, Johnny started looking everywhere for his tail, wanting to reattach it to its rightful place. However, the countryside was very big, and as much as he searched for it, Johnny could find no sign of his tail. 

He forgot everything else in his life, devoting himself to the search. He forgot about his home, his possessions, his friends. Days and months passed, and Johnny kept looking, asking everyone he met whether they had seen his tail. 

One day, someone he asked surprisingly replied, “Why do you need two tails?" Johnny turned and saw that after so much time spent searching, he had grown a new tail. What’s more, his new tail looked stronger and better than his old tail. Seeing this, he realised how silly it had been to dedicate so much time to a problem for which there was no solution. Johnny turned back and headed for home.

It was time to stop chasing his tail and get on with the task in hand. Where was there a nice stone in the sun? We all spend time searching for our tails and life passes us by.





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