Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, was not above telling tales about himself in which he was the laughing stock. Here is one of those stories.
As he tells it, he was waiting at a taxi stand outside the railway station in Paris.
When a taxi pulled up,he put his suitcase in it and got in himself. As he was about to tell the taxi driver where he wanted to go, the driver asked him:
“Where can I take you, Mr. Doyle?” Doyle was flabbergasted. He asked the driver whether he knew him by sight.
The driver said: “No Sir, I have never seen you before.” The puzzled Doyle asked him what made him think that he was Conan Doyle.
The driver replied: “This morning’s paper had a story about you being on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who return from Marseilles always come to. Your skin colour tells me you have been on vacation. The ink spot on your right index finger suggests to me that you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French. Adding up all those pieces of information, I deduce that you are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” Doyle said:
“This is truly amazing. You are a real life counter part to my fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes.”
“There is one other thing,” the driver said.
“What is that?”
“Your name is on the front of your suitcase.”
Vocabulary Help
- tales – histórias
- laughing stock – objeto de gozação, riso
- railway station – estação ferroviária
- flabbergasted – surpreso
- puzzled – surpreso, espantado
- skin – pele
- ink spot – marca de tinta
- clothing – vestuário
- amazing – surpreendente