Re: Camel's nose
I am trying to find the source of the story of the camel's
nose which is used as an analogy in opinions and legal argument -
sort of a give them an inch and they take a mile story.
The story starts with a merchant crossing the desert on his
camel. They camp for the night, the master in the tent the camel
outside. The master is awakened by the camel's moans. The camel
says, "I 'm cold, I know that I could be warm if I could only put
my nose inside the tent." The story ends with the camel inside the
tent and the master outside.
The earliest reference that I have is a 1953 reference in the
Congressional Record. None of the references that I have cite to
a written version of the story. I was told the story as a boy in
1951 in Nigeria.
I have checked Aesop, the Panchatantra, Short Story Index,
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Benet's Reader's Encyc., Mac. Book
of Proverbs, Dictionary of Folklore.
Lexis, while yielding many examples of use of the story, did
not provide a citation to a written version of the story.
Please respond directly to me, I will summarize if an answer
there lurks.
--Thaddeus P. Bejnar
Internet: lgllawlib@technet.nm.org
Bitnet: lgllawl@USCN
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03/09/00 PST