Inside Again by Joseph Jacobs
This story was one of the funniest stories I've read all semester. I really enjoy reading these fairy tales because they are quick and have a good lesson to go with them. This lesson is clearly explained in the last line of the story, "There's gratitude for you."
The story begins with a man in the woods. He sees something that looks like a black whip trying to get free from under a rock, and he goes to investigate. He lifts up the rock and sets the black whip free and it turns out that it's a snake! The snake thanks the man for letting him free but tells him that he has to eat him now. The man complains that it's not fair. Why should the snake eat him when he set him free? The snake argued that the first rule to life is self-preservation, so the man should be eaten. The man argued that the first rule of life is gratitude, so the snake should show his thanks by not eating the man. The two go back and forth and decide to get the opinions of the next three passerby's to decide the issue for them.
The first passerby is an old horse who is badly injured. They explain the situation to the horse and the horse sides with the snake. He has been grateful for his owner for many years, but once he became old, the owner just wanted to send him to be killed for money. That's gratitude for you.
The second passerby is a three legged dog who also sides with the snake. He served his master for many years but was kicked out after he was no use to him. There's gratitude for you.
The snake tells the man that there's no use in waiting for the third passerby because he has the majority vote already, but the man argues that maybe the third passerby can convince the others to side with him instead.
So they wait for the third passerby to come along, who is a fox. The fox comes over to the man who whispers in his ear. He tells the fox that if he helps him get out of the situation, then the fox will be rewarded with two chickens. So, the fox tricks the snake to get back under the rock and everybody leaves. The fox goes with the man to get rewarded, and the man goes into his house to fetch the chickens. However, his wife doesn't see the use in wasting two perfectly good chickens on a fox, so she puts the dog in the bag instead. When the man opened up the bag, the dog ate him.
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| Black Snake (Wikimedia) |
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This story was one of the funniest stories I've read all semester. I really enjoy reading these fairy tales because they are quick and have a good lesson to go with them. This lesson is clearly explained in the last line of the story, "There's gratitude for you."
The story begins with a man in the woods. He sees something that looks like a black whip trying to get free from under a rock, and he goes to investigate. He lifts up the rock and sets the black whip free and it turns out that it's a snake! The snake thanks the man for letting him free but tells him that he has to eat him now. The man complains that it's not fair. Why should the snake eat him when he set him free? The snake argued that the first rule to life is self-preservation, so the man should be eaten. The man argued that the first rule of life is gratitude, so the snake should show his thanks by not eating the man. The two go back and forth and decide to get the opinions of the next three passerby's to decide the issue for them.
The first passerby is an old horse who is badly injured. They explain the situation to the horse and the horse sides with the snake. He has been grateful for his owner for many years, but once he became old, the owner just wanted to send him to be killed for money. That's gratitude for you.
The second passerby is a three legged dog who also sides with the snake. He served his master for many years but was kicked out after he was no use to him. There's gratitude for you.
The snake tells the man that there's no use in waiting for the third passerby because he has the majority vote already, but the man argues that maybe the third passerby can convince the others to side with him instead.
So they wait for the third passerby to come along, who is a fox. The fox comes over to the man who whispers in his ear. He tells the fox that if he helps him get out of the situation, then the fox will be rewarded with two chickens. So, the fox tricks the snake to get back under the rock and everybody leaves. The fox goes with the man to get rewarded, and the man goes into his house to fetch the chickens. However, his wife doesn't see the use in wasting two perfectly good chickens on a fox, so she puts the dog in the bag instead. When the man opened up the bag, the dog ate him.
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