Joaquim Mohsen

It was a chilly night, and a man lit a fire in his stove to keep warm. As the flames began to dwindle, he scrambled to find something to feed the fire. Grabbing some loose paper, he tossed it in. The paper ignited almost instantly, producing sizable flames, yet the flames died down as quickly as they had ignited.

Thrilled by how large the flames had grown from the paper (despite how quickly they died), he rushed around his home to find even more. Finding a decent amount, he tossed it all into the stove. Once again, the flames leapt even higher. The man watched, mesmerized by the fiery spectacle. However, his excitement was short-lived as the flames shrank down once again.

He became obsessed with feeding his fire more and more paper, ignoring how rapidly the fire died out. Scrounging every corner of his house, he amassed an entire boxful. He dumped it all in and basked in its momentary warmth. The fire became so intense that sparks and flames began to escape the stove, nearly burning him.

Running low on paper, he had a sudden idea. Braving the cold, he went out to gather dry leaves from his yard. He collected an entire bagful, much more than the paper. Confident that this would be a sufficient amount to sustain the fire, he hastily dumped all the leaves into the stove. A moment passed, his anticipation building, ready to revel in the marvelous fiery spectacle once more. Then, a massive flame erupted from the stove, engulfing the room—and the man, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake.