Here's a fable by Koz'ma Prutkov (the original in Russian). I.M.Gelfand often used it during his seminars to emphasize the importance of avoiding irrelevant details.

Forget-me-nots and Footboards

A Fable

A man called Pakhomych, shaking as he rode on the carriage footboards,

Carried a bunch of forget-me-nots.

He got corn on his heels,

And treated them at home with camphor.

Reader! Having discarded the fable's forget-me-nots,

Which were put here as a joke,

You can arrive at only a single conclusion:

If you get corns

And you want to rid yourself of the pain,

You, like our friend Pakhomych,

Should treat them with camphor.


Koz'ma Prutkov (translated from the Russian by Sarah Krive)