The snail and the forest.
For several years a snail had been making its way along a forest path. Other animals came and went along the same path, always asking the snail “Ho snail, where are you headed?”
The snail, thinking itself clever, would always answer “As the path only goes one way, this way.” The animal might then laugh before continuing along down the path.
One day, the snail encountered a fork in the path. Uncertain of what to do, it wondered aloud “Just how big is this forest? Will I ever be out of it? Which way should I go?”
An owl napping nearby overheard the snail and responded: “As long as you have come along the path, one choice will take just as long out and will end at the city market, the other will take twice as long and end at the waterfall that is a temple to the gods. Now hush up, for I mean to sleep.”
Pondering for a moment, the snail commented “I shall die long before I reach either destination” and it left the path, entering into the thick forest.