Weekend Story- Once You See How
July 27, 2025
In 1493, after returning from his first voyage to the Americas (which he mistakenly believed to be the East Indies), Christopher Columbus was honored at a dinner by Spanish nobles.
Some of them, however, downplayed his achievement.
“Anyone could have sailed west and found land,” they scoffed. “You just happened to get there first.”
Columbus smiled, reached for a boiled egg, and proposed a wager.
“Stand this egg on its tip,” he said, “and I’ll concede your point.”
One by one, they tried—and failed.
Columbus then took the same egg, gently tapped the tip to flatten a sliver of shell, and stood it upright.
“Once you see how something is done, it feels obvious,” Columbus commented tongue in cheek.
