Story corner
The Adventurer with No Map
By Jules | 26 July 2025 | 5 min. read
Long ago, in a faraway land, there lived a listless, curious scholar. He longed to travel the seven seas and see distant lands, meet new cultures, and experience exotic foods.
Day and night he thought of nothing else, until one day, his desire burned too strong and he finally made the decision: He would leave his comfortable life as a scholar, and venture into the unknown.
Early the next morning, he began his preparations. From food rations to clothing, he carefully tracked all the essentials he would need for a long trip.
He was almost ready to close his bag when he realized something. “…The map?”
He scoured his room. No map in sight.
He checked every corner, every table, every sheet of paper. There was no map to be found.
“No worthy explorer has ever ventured forth without a map,” he scolded himself. “I must procure one.”
He fetched a large sheet of cartographic paper, a quill pen, and a bottle, and settled himself at his study. For the next three days, he drew—vast mountain ranges, detailed valleys and ravines, endless expanses of ocean—he drew the world onto his map. And once he had brushed the last stroke of the side of a small desert and looked upon the paper to find it filled, he set down his pen and declared it finished.
He was now a worthy explorer who could partake in worthy adventures, for he had a map.
Satisfied, he rolled it up and stowed it carefully away in his carry-on. With nothing more holding him back, he set forth.
“Where shall I venture to first?” he wondered, as he made his way out of the city. “Perhaps I should like to see that mountain range with the most beautiful lake,” he decided, recalling his map. He retrieved it from his sack, plotted his course, and set off.
Two days passed. And while he kept due east as the map instructed him, he could find none of the landmarks that were supposed to be on the way.
“That is odd,” he noted. “Where is the arc-shaped lone tree on a cliff? Or where is the valley announcing the mountain range?”
No, the map had to be right, for how could such a detailed and painstakingly drawn map be wrong?
“. . . he drew the world onto his map. And once he had brushed the last stroke of the side of a small desert and looked upon the paper to find it filled, he set down his pen and declared it finished. He was now a worthy explorer . . . for he had a map.”
Perhaps he had simply misjudged the distance to his destination and had to keep walking further.
And yet, the further he walked east, the hotter the weather became, the more hills turned to flatland, and the more soil turned to dust.
After the fourth day, he reached a ridge. Thinking this might be the beginning of the mountain range, he climbed it eagerly—only to find vast and expansive sand dunes on the other side. No mountains in sight.
Throughout his journey, the adventurer found lakes where he had drawn deserts, and deserts where he had drawn oceans. Before the thirtieth day was over, he had exhausted his rations, and found himself lost in a dense bushland, with no one to ask for help, and no one to come and rescue him, for no one (not even he) knew where he was.
Even if you’re a scholar, if you haven’t seen the world, don’t draw your own map.
Entrepreneurs, we don’t have to tell you what that means.