Okuma – Clever Man

Akıllı olmak nedir? Akıllı kime denir? Akıllı olma iddiası taşımayan sıradan bir adamın kolay İngilizce hikayesi / The story of an ordinary man who has no pretensions to being clever

• Hikaye ⇓
• Test

It was a rainy day and Kamil had to take his umbrella. He didn’t like umbrellas. They reminded him of the beatings he had had when he was a child. His grandfather, who was always angry, would beat him with his big black umbrella whenever he made a mistake. So, he was afraid of them now. Nevertheless, he took it because he had to walk three miles to work and it was raining heavily.

Kamil was a middle-aged man. He was married with three children. He worked in an office at Hallederiz Holding. Although he was always serious and looked sad and thoughtful all the time, he wasn’t taken very seriously by his colleagues. They often made jokes about him and played tricks on him. Once they told him that they had bought him a house as a birthday present. Kamil, being a credulous (someone who easily believes other people) man, believed them and went to the house which they said was his now. Finding that there were other people settled in the house he went back to his friends and told them of what he had seen. They, hardly able to keep themselves from laughing, told him that those whom he had seen settled in the house were the family who had rented the house, and that they must leave it now as he was the new owner. He believed them again and began waiting for the family to leave his house. After waiting for three years, his friends had to tell him the truth. This time, however, they had difficulty in making him believe as it is hard for people to believe in things which are unpleasant for them. After that, he stopped his friendship with his colleagues but they didn’t stop their dirty jokes.

At home, Kamil’s situation was no different. He was not much respected by his wife or children. They thought that their poverty (being poor) was because of Kamil. If he had been clever enough, they could have been rich, they believed. That was partly true: they could have been richer. However, their poverty was not because Kamil had not been clever enough. The real reason was Kamil’s honesty. He never told lies. He never accepted bribes. He never stole. In other words, he could have been rich if he had been a dishonest man. Unfortunately, people call dishonest men ‘clever’ in our times. When someone becomes rich through dishonesty, people say he is a clever man.

Kamil was busy with these thoughts while walking the three miles to the office with the umbrella in his hand. When he finally reached the office, he noticed police cars parked in front of the factory. Then he saw most of his colleagues in handcuffs being forced into the police cars. What happened was that the police had been secretly investigating the company for seven months and finally had found proof that some dirty business was running in it. Most of the employees were arrested and found guilty and put in jail. When he went home that evening Kamil looked at his wife and children and said proudly, “I think I am cleverer than you think” and smiled.