The story of the claimer of knowledge is one of the world’s wonderful children’s stories, collected and composed by Toshio Ozawa. The story of the claimer of knowledge is a tale from old Japanese legends, or more precisely, it’s Japanese myths from ancient times that are taught to Japanese children until the end of the elementary stage. The story is told as follows:
The village near the sea and the claimer of knowledge: Once upon a time, in ancient times, in the past era, in a village near the sea, there was a man who boasted that he knew everything and never stopped repeating that. He would always say: I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know. I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know. I know everything, and there is nothing I don’t know.
The villagers and the claimer of knowledge: The villagers would always say about him: This one claims knowledge and pretends to know. One day, a tea kettle drifted to the sea shore, and the villagers hadn’t seen a kettle before or heard about it.
The strange tea kettle and the villagers and the claimer of knowledge: So the villagers gathered around the tea kettle, looking at it with amazement and wonder, and wondering: What is this? What could it be? And for what is it used? While they were in this state, the claimer of knowledge reached them.
The tea kettle and the claimer of knowledge: The claimer of knowledge said: Strange, you don’t know what this is. This is worn on the head during cooking, and it’s called a hood. The villagers asked him while touching the spout of the kettle with their fingers, saying: But what is this? He answered them: This is the hood’s belt that goes under the chin! One of them said: And what is this protruding side opening.
The claimer of knowledge and deceiving the villagers: The claimer of knowledge continued his speech and said: When the hood is completely wet, we can’t hear sounds, so this protruding opening comes on the ear to hear sounds through it.
A clever question about the tea kettle: One of the villagers said to him: Oh… yes. But if that’s the case, there must be two openings, one on the right and the other on the left. Why is there only one opening, and on only one side?
The claimer of knowledge and escaping from answers: The man who claimed knowledge said to them, escaping from the logical questions that came from the villagers, and said: It seems your understanding of things is very weak. There is no opening on the other side because that side goes on the pillow during sleep! And here the tale ended as told by the Japanese elders.