This is a fable my mother told me when I was a child.
Epaminandos was a very foolish boy. He lived in a small village with his grandmother, who often asked him to do errands for her.
One day his grandmother asked him to go into town and buy a sewing needle.
He went to the store and bought the needle. On the way back home, a friend offered Epaminandos a ride in his hay wagon. Epaminandos climbed in the back of the wagon and made himself comfortable in the hay. He put the needle down so that he would not have to hold it.
When the wagon stopped at his grandmother’s house, he looked for the needle, but it was impossible to find it in the wagon full of hay.
Epaminandos told his grandmother that he had lost the needle. She said, “Epaminandos, you are so foolish! You should have put the needle in your hat so it would be safe, and you would not have lost it! Now, I need you to go over to the dairy and pick up a pound of butter.
Epaminandos went to the dairy and bought the butter. As he started for home, he remembered what his grandmother had said, and put the butter inside his hat, on top of his head. It was a hot day, and before long the butter melted and rolled into his eyes and down his face. When he arrived home, his grandmother said, “Epaminandos, you are so foolish! You should have wrapped the butter in some wet leaves to keep it cool, and it would not have melted!”
The next day his grandmother asked Epaminandos to go to a friend’s house and bring home a puppy. As he started for home, he remembered what his grandmother had said and wrapped the puppy in wet leaves. When he came into the house, his grandmother pulled the poor, shivering puppy out of the wet leaves and warmed it in a big towel. “Epaminandos, you are so foolish! You should have tied a string around the puppy’s neck and let him follow you home.
The next errand was to the butcher shop to bring home a soup bone. Epaminandos remembered what his grandmother had said and tied a string around the bone and let it follow him home. By the time he arrived home, all the dogs in the town had chewed on the meat, and what was left was covered with dust and grit.
“Epaminandos, you are so foolish! You should have wrapped the bone in clean butcher’s paper and carried it home in your arms! Now, Epaminandos, I have just baked 6 apple pies, and they are cooling on the porch. YOU BE CAREFUL HOW YOU STEP ON THAT PORCH!!”
Epaminandos remembered what his grandmother had said and was very careful. He stepped right in the exact middle of each pie.