The Far-Seeing Men

There once was a fertile valley surrounded by high mountains.  The valley had its villages and a few towns and was a very pleasant place.  No one had ever left the valley because of the tall mountains that surrounded it and through some geographical oddity, beyond the mountains desert in all directions.

But if you laboriously scaled the right peak, and had rested your eyes, and the visibility was right, you could see that there was an end to the desert and something beyond.  Perhaps even towns and cities.

One day a man in the valley announced his intention to cross the mountains and the desert to the other side.  He set about planning his journey and making the equipment he would need to get there.

Not long after, he had a knock on his door in the evening.   When he opened it, he saw a delegation of men there.  They asked to speak to him, he invited them in.

The spokesman said,  “we represent the far-seeing men.  We have come to ask you not to go.”

The man waited to hear more, but when the spokesman did not continue the man asked why they did not want him to go.  The spokesman was puzzled.  “Why?  We’re the experts, you should listen to us.”

When the man was still puzzled, the spokesman explained further.  “I thought you would have  heard of the far-seeing men.  We are an informal guild of men with exceptionally good sight.  We peer into the great beyond from good viewing spots we have found on the peaks, we share our observations with each other, and make theories about what we are seeing.”

The man nodded.  “Yes,” he said, “I have found your ideas of great help to me in planning my expedition.”

There was a pause.  The spokesman  unbent a little, and kindly added further explanation.  “You see,” the spokesman said, “even you admit that what we do is quite valuable.  Your expedition doesn’t seem designed to help us do our viewing better in the future, and your presence across the desert could actually contaminate what we see!”