About the Chicken and the Frog ~ by Anonymous

 

About the Chicken and the Frog 

~ by Anonymous ~ 

A Madman's Ramblings ~ by Eli Weiss

 

A Madman's Ramblings *

~ by Eli Weiss~

 

     "I never understood wind. 

     You know, I know
     windmills very much.
     I have studied it
     better than anybody
     else. It’s very expensive.
     They are made in China
     and Germany mostly.
     —Very few made here, almost none,
     but they are manufactured, tremendous
     —if you are into this—
     tremendous fumes. Gases are
     spewing into the atmosphere. You know
     we have a world
     right?
     So the world
     is tiny
     compared to the universe.
     So tremendous, tremendous
     amount of fumes and everything.
     You talk about
     the carbon footprint
     — fumes are spewing into the air.
     Right? Spewing.
     Whether it’s in China,
     Germany, it’s going into the air.
     It’s our air
     their air
     everything — right?
     A windmill will kill many bald eagles.
     After a certain number
     they make you turn the windmill off.
     That is true.
     —By the way
      they make you turn it off.
     And yet, if you killed one
     they put you in jail.
     That is OK.
     You want to see a bird graveyard?
     You just go.
     Take a look.
     A bird graveyard.
     Go under a windmill someday,
     you’ll see
     more birds
     than you’ve ever seen
     in your life."

_________________________

* D. Trump 

12/21/2019

Asheville Poetry Review

    

 

Hanasaka Jiisan - - - - a Japanese folk tale

 

 Hanasaka Jiisan - - - - a Japanese folk tale 

[] [] [] [] [] [] []

                  [The story of the old man that made the flowers bloom.]

     An old childless couple loved their dog. One day, it dug in the garden, and they found a box of gold pieces there. A neighbor thought the dog must be able to find treasure, and arranged to borrow the dog. When it dug in his garden, the dog uncovered only bones, and so he killed it. He told the couple that the dog had just dropped dead. 

     They grieved and buried it under the fig tree where they had found the treasure. One night, the dog's master dreamed that the dog told him to chop down their tree and make a mortar from it and pound rice in the mortar. He told his wife, who said they must do as the dog asked. When they did, the rice put into the mortar turned into gold. The neighbor borrowed the mortar, but his rice turned to foul-smelling berries, and he and his wife smashed and burned the mortar.

     That night, in a dream, the dog told his master to take the ashes and sprinkle them on certain cherry trees. When he did, the cherry trees came into bloom, and the Daimyo (feudal lord), who was passing by, marveled at this and gave him many gifts.

     The neighbor tried to do the same, but his ashes blew into the Daimyo's eyes, so he threw him into prison; when he was released, his village would not let him live there anymore, and he could not, with his wicked ways, find a new home. 

 

Excerpted from "The Life Before Us" by Romain Gary

 

Excerpted from "The Life Before Us" by Romain Gary 

(pp. 155-156, and p. 162) 

<><><><><><><> 

  ....
     In the morning Dr.Katz came up to give Madame Rosa a check-up.  And as soon as it was over we went out on the landing and I knew that calamity was creeping up to our door.
     "She'll have to go to the hospital.  She can't stay here.  I'm going to call an ambulance."
     "What will they do to her at the hospital?"
     "They'll give her the proper care.  She may go on living for quite some time if not longer.  I've seen persons in her condition prolonged for years."
     Hell and damnation, I thought, but I didn't say anything in front of the doctor.  I hesitated a moment.  Then I asked:
     "Look, Doctor, just between Jews, couldn't you abortion her?"
     He seemed sincerely flabbergasted.
     "What?  Abortion her?  What are you talking about?"
     "That's right.  Abortion her.  To stop her suffering."
     Dr. Katz was so overcome he had to sit down.  He held his head in his hands and sighed several times in succession, raising his eyes to heaven as customary.
     "No, my little Momo.  We can't do that.  Euthanasia is absolutely forbidden by law.  We're living in a civilized country.  You don't know what you're talking about."
     "Oh yes, I do.  I'm an Algerian.  I know perfectly well what I'm talking about.  In Algeria they've got the sacred right of people to self-determination."
     Dr. Katz looked at me as if I'd scared him.  His mouth was wide open and he didn't say a word.  Sometimes I get good and sick of the way people refuse to understand.
     "Do you believe in the sacred right of peoples, or don't you?"
     "Of-course I believe in it," Said Dr. Katz.  He even got up from the step he was sitting on to show his respect.
     "Of-course I believe in it, it's a good and fine thing.  But I don't see the connection."
     "The connection is that if you believe in it you'll have to admit that Madame Rosa has the sacred right of peoples to self-determine herself just like everybody else.  If she wants to be abortioned, she has a perfect right.  And you should do it for her because it's got to be a Jewish doctor to steer clear of antisemitism.  Jews have no business making each other suffer.  It's disgusting."

----------------------------------------------------------

     "Momo, tell me the whole truth."
     "Madame Rosa, I don't know the whole truth.  I don't even know who knows it."
     "What did Dr. Katz tell you?"
     "He said we'd have to put you in the hospital and they'll take care of you and prevent you from dying.  You can live a long time yet."
     It made my heart ache to talk like that.  I even tried to smile as if it was good news I was telling her.
     "What do they call this sickness I have?"
     I swallowed my saliva.
     "It's not cancer.  Madame Rosa, I swear it isn't."
     "But what is it, Momo?  What do the doctors call it?"
     "You can live like that for years."
     "Like what?"
     I didn't answer.
     "Momo, don't lie to me.  I am an old Jewish woman.  Whatever can be done to a man has been done to me."
     She said mensch.  In Yiddish a man and a woman are the same.
     "I want to know.  Some things they have no right to do to a mensch."
     "It's nothing, Madame Rosa.  A person can perfectly well live like that."
     "Like what, Momo?"
     That was as much as I could stand.  The tears were choking me inside.  I ran over to her, she took me in her arms, and I shouted:
     "Like a vegetable, Madame Rosa, like a vegetable!  They want to make you live like a vegetable!"
     She didn't say anything.  She only perspired a little.
     "When are they coming to get me?"
     "I don't know.  In a day or two.  Dr. Katz is very fond of you, Madame Rosa.  He says he won't separate us unless he has to."
     "I won't go," said Madame Rosa.
     "I don't know what to do, Madame Rosa.  They're all such bastards.  They refuse to abortion you."
     She seemed very calm.  She only wanted to wash herself, because she'd pissed in her pants.
     She was beautiful, now that I think of it.  It depends on the way you think of a person.
     "It's the Gestapo," she said.
     She didn't say anything after that.
     I was cold during the night.  I got up and put another blanket over her.
....

 

The Pastor and His Donkey - by Anonymous

 

 The Pastor and His Donkey 

- by Anonymous -

The Pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The Pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again and it won again.  

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT! 

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the Pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.  

The next day the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the Bishop so he ordered the Pastor to get rid of the donkey. 

The Pastor decided to give it to a Nun in a nearby convent.  

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.   

The Bishop fainted. He informed the Nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey so she sold it to a farmer for $10.  

The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10!  

This was too much for the Bishop so he ordered the Nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.  

The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS NOW WILD AND FREE.  The Bishop was buried the next day !  

The "Lazy" Student ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

 

The "Lazy" Student *

[totally revised, edited, and translated]

 by Hénock Gugsa

Modern education finally arrived in rural Ethiopia.  Students began to be taught not only reading and writing but also basic arithmetic.  Some students were very bright and were advancing pretty well in their studies, but others were finding the going pretty near impossible.   But, the situation was especially more challenging to the teachers who had to improvise and find new ways of teaching. 

One such teacher began a method called "Applied Arithmetic" .... Basically, he was now using examples from daily rural life to make problems comprehensible and solvable to students.  Among his charge was one particular student who was finding the concept of "subtraction" completely incomprehensible.

“Look,” said the teacher, “Say you have five sheep in a pasture. If one sheep goes away from the herd,  scampers off  by itself and escapes, how many sheep would you now have left? ”

“ None,” replied the student firmly.

“Incredible! ” said the teacher with a heavy sigh.  “How did you arrive at that answer? ”

“This one actually made sense to me, teacher, ” said the wide-eyed student.  “If one sheep goes, all the rest will follow! ”

The teacher gave up.  He couldn't begin to argue with a student who was also a shepherd boy.

_________________________________________________________

* inspired by an Amhara folk tale from Ethiopia that was narrated by Kassa Alamrew

 

Mt Olympus ~ by TPO

 

 

Mt Olympus 

** by TPO ** 

 

Conversation with a Vampire ! ~ by Anonymous

 

Conversation with a Vampire !
~ by Anonymous ~
===================

“Vampires change humans, but humans change vampires too,” said the vampire.

The human frowned. “Like - into humans?”

“No, no, it’s like - it’s like the sunlight thing. One day we’re fine with sunlight, and then the next day you go, ‘You know what, we’re changing the rules, now sunlight makes you burst into flames and die.’ Half of us were wiped out because we didn’t get the memo, and the other half had to go underground.”

“We never ...”

“You did,” said the vampire. “Ever since Nosferatu came out, humans have known that sunlight kills vampires. It never did before, but it always has ever since.”

“Because of a movie?”

“Because of stories. That’s your part of the power. Humans tell stories to change the world around them. You don’t know you’re doing it most of the time, but whenever we get too big, you change the rules and make us start from scratch.”

“So you get super-strength, shapeshifting, flight, mind-control, and an unending blood-lust-”

“And you get to be the kid on the playground who says he has an ‘everything-proof-shield.’”

“I still think you have the better end of the deal here.”

“We really don’t. Now let me in.”

“No.”

 

Retired and Prankish ! ~ by Anonymous

 

 

Retired and Prankish !
~ by Anonymous ~

Yesterday, I was at my local TSC store buying a large bag of my dog's food for my loyal livestock guard dog, and was in the checkout when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What?  Did she think I had an elephant?  So, since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Dog Diet again.  I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time.  But I'd lost 10 pounds before I woke up in intensive care with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.  I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with dog nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry.  The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again.  (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was enthralled with my story!)

Horrified, she asked me if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.  I told her no, I stepped off the curb to sniff an Irish Setter's rear end and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.  I'm now banned for life from Tractor Supply.

Better watch what you ask retired people.  They have all the time in the world to think of things to say !

 

On a Bridge Strategy ~ by Frank Stewart

 

On a Bridge Strategy 

~ by Frank Stewart ~

 

An Uneasy Moment ! ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

An Uneasy Moment ! 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~ 

I'm not sure how the following memory bits just floated to the surface of my consciousness.  Yet, it is neither probable nor even possible that they could ever have been erased completely!

I was maybe six-years of age at the time, tops.  I had just been worshiping with my father at our neighborhood's St. Marcos Orthodox Church in Sidist Kilo, Addis Ababa.  It was not only an important bonding moment between father and son, it was also, for me, a first serious introduction and immersion in our family's religion, the Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox Christian Church.

My father had coached me on what I was expected to do at the end of the grueling hour-and-a-half long prayer and hymnals called Kidassé (ቅዳሴ ).   So, as is customary to most Christian churches, what came next was the Eucharist or Holy Communion.  I approached the priests and mimicking my dad, I received the sacraments without a hitch.  Then, my dad and I exited the church and walked out into the warm and deliciously sunny morning air.

We came out of the church's compound and headed home. Not even five minutes later, as we were walking up the concrete side-walk, my father noticed the fidgety discomfort and fear on my face.  He stopped and, bending down, examined me closer.  He asked me what was wrong and if I was ill or something.  

I must have looked more guilty as I tried to respond, but words  couldn't come out of my mouth.  My dad looked sternly at me, and all I could do was open my mouth wide and point inside with my finger.  I shall never forget the shock and fright that fell over my father's face.  He dropped to his knees, and made several signs of the cross with his right hand.  He looked at me with the greatest worry and  care, then ordered me to chew and swallow immediately the Holy Host that was lodged in my mouth.  As I was doing that, he prayed fiercely and hurried us home.  He instructed me to stay inside the house all day that day, no questions asked.  Meanwhile, he said he was going to go back to the church and get some Holy Water for my protection.  Then he dashed out of the house, loudly mumbling prayers in Geez, which he could speak better than many priests.

So, that Sunday, that whole day, I was incarcerated at home after drinking the Holy Water that my beloved dad brought.  Every moment was fearful as I stayed alert for any signs of Evil.  None came.  I believe I have been blessed even up till this day !

~~~~ /// ~~~~

Pranked big time ! ~ by TPO

 

Pranked big time ! 

~ by TPO ~

 

 

Teacher's Call to Parent ~ by TPO

 

Teacher's Call to Parent 

~ by TPO ~

 

Renée Mauperin ~ by Edmond and Julesde Goncourt

  Renée Mauperin
["The Morning Kiss" ... an extract]
~ by Edmond  and Julesde Goncourt ~ 

=========================

     " Well!" exclaimed Renée, entering the dining-room at eleven o'clock, breathless like a child who had been running, " I thought every one would be down.  Where is mamma?"
     " Gone to Paris --- shopping," answereed M. Mauperin.
     " Oh! --- and where's Denoisel?"
     " He's gone to see the man with the sloping ground, who must have kept him to luncheon.  We'll begin luncheon."
     " Good-morning, papa!"  And instead of taking her seat Renée went across to her father and putting her arms round his neck began to kiss him.
     " There, there, that's enough --- you silly child!" said M. Mauperin, soiling as he endeavored to free himself.
     " Let me kiss you tong-fashion --- there --- like that," and she pinched his cheeks and kissed him again.
     " What a child you are, to be sure."
     " Now look at me.  I want to see whether you care for me."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Renée Mauperin --- The Morning Kiss 1882
 etching on laid paper
by James Tissot (French, 1836-1902)

The Adventures of Gabriel and Nathalie - by Hénock Gugsa

The Adventures of Gabriel and Nathalie

by Hénock Gugsa 
=======================================================

Some time back, in my never-ending travels (cruises) on the internet, I ran into a website called "Tumbler".  So, I checked it out from here to Sunday, and it is quite an entertaining and unique website.  It is mostly a repository for blogs of all kinds:  story rooms, chat rooms, art rooms, media rooms, etc.

I signed up as henock928 and now have my own room which I have named: "Asta9 ".  But this is all not so relevant to the little story  I want to share here.

Inside Tumbler, there is a blog called "Gabenath Fanblog" which is basically about the (fictional ?) lives of the Agrestes, Gabriel and Nathalie (née Sancoeur).  There is also a third character named Adrien who is Gabriel's son / Nathalie's stepson.

As far as I can figure, the authors/contributors of Gabenath Fanblog must be francophone because I have had to go in and edit (amend) words or phrases that are obviously bad translations from French. Actually, though, I have discovered the blog is originating in Germany.  At any rate, I am here presenting seven little episodes (encounters ) between the characters.  Enjoy!

Episode 1 -

Nathalie: "Where'd the mistletoe come from?"

Gabriel, blushing while staring at Adrien: "Adrien!"

Adrien: "What, someone had to make the first move and clearly neither of you were gonna do it."

Episode 2 -

Adrien: "Nathalie likes it when you’re mysterious."

Gabriel: "Got it."

[later, on his date ...]

Nathalie: "So, dear, where are we going for dinner?"

Gabriel: "None of your business."

Episode 3 -

Nathalie: *hugs Gabriel*
Gabriel: "What is this?"

Nathalie: "Affection?"

Gabriel: "Disgusting."

Nathalie: "..."

Gabriel: "....Do it again."

Episode 4 -

Adrien: "Why are you two holding hands?"

Gabriel: "Studies show it relieves stress."

Adrien: "Oh, okay, I just thought maybe you were dating or something."

Nathalie: "We are. We’re also really stressed."

Episode 5 -

Nathalie: "I was attracted to you first."

Gabriel: "Well, I confessed first."

Nathalie: "I asked you out first."

Nathalie: "And, well, I said ‘I love you’ first."

Gabriel, getting down on one knee: "I proposed first."

Nathalie: "Well, I- WAIT WHAT?"

Episode 6 -

Gabriel: "You know, I really don’t like your last name."

Nathalie: "What’s wrong with Sancoeur?"

Gabriel: "I don’t know... it just doesn’t suit you. You should change it."

Nathalie: "Change it?! To what?!"

Gabriel: "Agreste."

Episode 7 -

Nathalie: "Don’t change the subject."

Gabriel: "What’s the subject?"

Nathalie: " Me. "

The Wit of Edward Gorey - by TPO

 The wit of Edward Gorey 

by TPO ===> 💙  💙

<< A beautiful example is his early book “The Doubtful Guest” (1957). Here, members of a respectable Victorian family are standing around one night, looking bored, when their doorbell rings. They open the door and find no one. But they scout around the porch, and finally, on the top of an urn at the end of the balustrade, they see something peculiar. It sort of resembles a penguin. On the other hand, it has fur and wears white sneakers. In any case, by the next page it is standing in the family’s foyer with its nose to the wallpaper, looking frightened but insistent, while they huddle in the next room, trying to figure out what to do. By the morning, the creature has made itself at home. An illustration shows us the family at the breakfast table, in their tight-fitting clothes, acting as though everything is perfectly fine, while the Guest, seated among them, and having finished what was on its plate, has begun eating the plate.

The next sixteen pages depict the unfolding of the creature’s unfortunate habits: how it tears chapters out of the family’s books and hides their bath towels and throws their pocket watches into the pond. At the end, we are told that the Guest has been with the family for seventeen years, and seems to have no intention of leaving. In the final drawing, we see the family, now gray-haired, staring at or away from this mysterious being as, still in its Keds, it sits on an elaborately tasselled ottoman, gazing straight ahead. It doesn’t look happy; it doesn’t look unhappy. It is just living its little life, as its hosts ceased to be able to do seventeen years ago. It wanted a home. It got one. >>

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/edward-goreys-enigmatic-world?

KINAMA ~ by Hénock Gugsa ( ሄኖክ ጉግሣ )

KINAMA 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ( ሄኖክ  ጉግሣ ) ~   

                    

                               [a folklore from Sidamo in Southern Ethiopia]

Kinama was a brave young Sidama who lived alone in the wilds with her sheep and her goats.  She lived inside a huge cave that had a big boulder right outside blocking the entrance.  Kinama was always on the lookout for her two persistent and dangerous enemies --- the mighty leopard who was “lord of the jungle”, and the pesky hyena who was always sneaky and ravenous.  Everyday as Kinama took her charge out to the meadows to graze, she had to be extremely alert and on the lookout for danger.  She had to be especially wary of the leopard because he was unpredictably dangerous.

But being human, Kinama was prone to habit ... she had gotten into a routine of sorts.  In the mornings, as she prepared to take her sheep and goats out of the cave, she would say: My great cave, open your gate!

And when the boulder rolled back, she’d walk out with her animals.  Once outside, she would turn and say to the cave: My great cave, close your gate!
Then she’d speak up nice and loud and say, “Today, I’m going to take my goats and lambs to graze at Digarre!”  And instead of going to Digarre she’d go to Temede.  But, the next day, she’d get up and say, “Today, I’m going to Temede,” but instead she’d go to Digarre.  And although every day she’d be tricking the leopard in this fashion, she always made sure that nobody was listening to her when she was addressing the cave's entrance.

Not surprisingly, the great leopard was always lurking around not too far away, and he would be looking longingly at Kinama's goats and lambs and salivate.  He was indeed very angry and frustrated that she had been outsmarting him every-time he made a move.  He had to seriously devise a plan to outmaneuver her, and so he came up with an idea.  Over the next few days, the leopard decided to learn every aspect of her routine from beginning to end. Early in the morning everyday, he would clamber to a tree just above the cave and hide.  When Kinama came out with the animals, he would make sure that she would not see him.  He would then point his ears to the ground in order to hear what she was whispering to the cave.

As usual, each morning, Kinama would come out with her brood, talk to the cave in the same way that she always did.  She would also broadcast, to anybody that might listen, where she was headed, and she would go on her way.

The morning came when the leopard was totally ready and he patiently waited for his moment.  As soon as Kinama was gone, the leopard jumped down from behind the tree and ran up to the cave and said, “My great cave, open your gate.”  The boulder rolled to the side and the cave opened up for him.  The leopard went in, jumped up on a perch, and hid himself.

Later that day, Kinama and her animals returned to the cave.  She was safely home, so she says, “My great cave, close your gate,”  and the boulder rolls back shut !

She sits down inside the cave and starts lighting a fire. But the leopard was on the perch and he starts salivating and a drop of his saliva falls into the fire. And immediately she senses that the leopard’s in the cave. And she also smells his scent.
So she says, “I can smell the scent of my lord. He must be in this cave.”  And she continues blowing down on the fire to keep it going.  “Phoo phoo phoo ....”

Another drop of saliva falls down from above and she says, “I’m sure my lord is in the cave. I can smell his scent very strongly.”

And from his perch the leopard says, “Yes, yes, I am here in the cave.  So now, what do you think I’m  going to do?  What is your choice?  Do you want me to jump down and kill you ... or ... shall I pounce on your fattest kid, Warpo there, and eat him whole?”

Kinama said beseechingly, “My great lord, you know I have been rearing fat Warpo for you.  So why would you want to jump down and attack me?  Instead, please come and snatch him.”

So the leopard pounced down on poor Warpo and kills him instantly.  As the leopard slavered on the goat's blood, Kinama asked: Now, my great lord, shall I prepare the meat for you?

And he said, “Yes, do.”  So she skinned the kid, and she said, “I need some water to boil the meat in.”

The leopard said, “Then go to the river and fetch it!”

So she went out, got the water and came back.  But, at the river she’d picked up a huge white stone called chela glaka.  And she brought the stone back with her, and she surreptitiously covered it completely with the white fat of Warpo the kid.   Then she put the fat-soaked rock on the fire and let it get sizzling hot.

The leopard was still salivating and licking his lips.  He was indeed very hungry! So Kinama said, “My lord, let me feed you. Please open your mouth wide.”

The great leopard opened his mouth ...  opened it very wide and said , “Aah!”   And quick as a jackrabbit, Kinama rushed and deposited the burning white rock in his mouth and kills him instantly!

So now that she’d gotten rid of  her most dangerous enemy, Kinama decided to next deal with the hyena once and for all.  She was confidently ready for the job!  The first thing she did was to take out the bones of the kid and scatter them outside the entrance of the cave.  After that, she waited patiently.

But she didn't have to wait long.  Soon enough, the dastardly hyena arrived on the scene as expected.

“What are all these bones?” He inquired suspiciously.

"They're all for you.  Why don't you have some?  I also have plenty of food here for you to eat."

And of course, as you know, the hyena was a greedy lout.  “Oh, you do?” He cackled cynically.

“Yes, there are lots of yummy things for you to eat here.  But I’ll only feed you on one condition.  That is: You must let me stitch together your tail to mine!”

The ravenous hyena was not very attentive, he was only focused on the food that was laid out on the ground in front of him.  So he said,  “OK, go ahead.”

He began eating the bones ... and, as she pierced his tail with the needle, he yelled, “Stop! That hurts!”

She said, “In that case, stop eating!”  But he whined, “No, I want to eat! I’m still hungry.”

“Well if you want to eat, I’ve got to stitch our tails together.”  True to form, the hyena relented and said, “OK, go ahead.”

And Kinama hurried and stitched the leopard’s tail and the hyena’s tail together while the hyena was crunching on the bones.

Then she asked, “I say, hyena, what will you do if your lord, the leopard, were to appear now?”

And he turned pale and said, “Shush girl!  Don’t even mention his name. If he appeared, I’d dash away running for my life. I’d be so scared that I’d jump over thickets and everything, and probably fall into a chasm somewhere.”

She said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure!”  He grunted.

So she waited until he ate a few more bones.  Then she yelled out, “Our lord the leopard is creeping up behind you! The leopard is behind you!”

The hyena turned and saw the leopard's spots, which scared him no end.  Coward that he was, he went-a- running like a fitfully-frightened creature!  And because he was now permanently tethered to the leopard's tail, what he kept seeing was the leopard pouncing on him.  Quick as his limping legs could carry him, the terrified hyena bolted through bushes and thickets until he finally reached a cliff ... and ... and he couldn't stop ... and there, he fell over screaming and cackling to his death!
=============================================================
Moral of the story:  Brawn and cunning are no match for brains and acumen!

A Magical Tale - by Hénock Gugsa

A Magical Tale *
by Hénock Gugsa
==============

--- Part 1 of 3 ---

Zach was not sure if he was in some sort of reverie where, out of the blue, he found himself in the middle of a strange forest.  The surroundings were dark, ominous, and unfriendly.  Not too far away, and in a starkly gray panorama lay a sort of a gorge, almost a canyon --- barren, craggy, and totally devoid of life except for a tall, fat, old man.  He was waving his arms feverishly from the center of the canyon, and the tuft of yellow hair on his head was billowing wildly in rhythm to his arms.

Then came the sound of determined feet as they crushed and crumpled the fallen leaves on the forest's uneven ground.  The unsettling rustle seemed to be headed in Zach's direction.  At that moment, he was suddenly shaken loose from his frozen state.  He was now sharply alert and his ears could now make out a choir of small angelic voices singing arcane nursery songs.

Zach looked around him, but saw nothing.  He was at his usual spot in the park ... and he had not felt the need to walk around and explore the surrounding forest.  But now as the voices seemed to draw near him, his feet which moments before had seemed non-existent had miraculously materialized.  He could feel them pulsating although he wasn't yet sure he was their master.  His toes wriggled as if they had lives of their own, and his knees started to bend and then to flex .  Zach felt alive!

The singers appeared as if from empty air and floated in front of him ... a strange sight indeed!  Three little girls were dragging a little boy behind them. His hands were tied in front of him with a  coarse rope.  The children, including the boy, were all about the same age ... not older than six or seven.  Each girl had on a different color blouse, ... the leader wore blue, the second girl had on green, and the third girl wore red.  As for the little boy, he was nondescript as to clothing or general appearance, but he looked distressed and helpless.

Now face to face with Zach, the little girls began to sing a mocking song ...

     Zachary, Zachary ... where's your sanctuary?
     You're stuck, you can't move, you got feet o' lead
     What to do, what to do, poor boy without hope
     The year went by quickly, we're back to January!
     You can't jump, and you can't fall on your head
     'N to get over that rock, you gonna need some rope!

     Zachary, Zachary ... where's your sanctuary? ...

The little girls sang and cackled as they dragged the little boy along.  Soon they tired of him, dumped him in front of Zach, and scampered off ... away toward the bleak canyon and the old, fat man still waving his arms.

Zach looked at the disheveled little boy closely, and as he did so, the little boy started to dissolve into thin air right there in front of him.  But as the child started to vanish, he became recognizable to Zach.  That was Zach himself some fifteen years back!

[... to be continued ....]

 

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*Inspired by a dream I had on 11/15/17

Baxter and Dreyfuss - by Hénock Gugsa

Baxter and Dreyfuss 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~

Dr. Dreyfuss: Why don't you grow up, Baxter? Be a mensch!
                          You know what that means?
Baxter: I'm not sure.
Dr. Dreyfuss: A mensch -- a human being!
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Source: "The Apartment" (1960) ...
with Jack Lemmon as Baxter,
and Jack Kruschen as Dr. Dreyfuss