There is a long tradition of publishing humorous stories in Odd Bods publications and here is one that the likes of Walter Eacott would have surely deemed appropriate to tickle our fancy. Thanks to Peter Randell for the story.
On the first day, God created the dog
and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who
comes in or walks past. For this I will give you a life span of twenty
years."
The dog said, "That's a long time
to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?
And God said that it was good.
On the second day, God created the
monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For
this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."
The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for
twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back
ten like the dog did?"
And God again said that it was good.
On the third day, God created the cow
and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and
suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family.
For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."
The cow said "That's kind of hard
to want me to live for sixty years.
How about twenty and I'll give back the
other forty?"
And God agreed it was good.
On the fourth day, God created humans
and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll
give you twenty years."
But the human said, "Only twenty
years? Could you possibly give me twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten
the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty,
okay?"
"Okay," said God, "You
asked for it."
So that is why for our first twenty
years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we
slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey
tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on
the front porch and bark at everyone.
