BRAG SESSION

BRAG SESSION

Four braggarts were talking nonsense in a garden. A braggart said, “Once I was playing hide and seek with my friends. I was looking for a place to hide. Then, I saw a coconut tree and climbed up it. You know how tall that tree was…it must be at least 200 kms high. I ran up to top and hid among its leaves. There I fell asleep. I woke up later to find that it had grown 80 kms taller.

I couldn’t dare to climb down from such a height. I kept sitting amongst the leaves. Just then, a cloud passed by and I entered into it. That was my chance. When it rained I got down holding on to a drop of it.

The second braggart said, “Once I was batting in a cricket match. I pulled a shot and the ball fell into a bush. I went into the bush to retrieve the ball. I couldn’t find it but I saw a rat hole in which an elephant rustler mouse lived. I dived into the hole suspecting the ball to be there. Inside I saw thousands of stolen elephants tethered. I forgot about the ball and began thinking of ways to liberate the poor elephants.

When no other idea came to me then I put all those elephants in my pockets and managed to sneak out. But the cunning mouse saw me and it ran after me with a raised sword in his hand.

I ran and ran and it followed me. Then I saw a grass-hopper hopping my way and I jumped up to land on its back. I whipped the grasshopper a few times and it hopped me out of the range of the pursuing mouse.

The third braggart spun his yarn, “Once I was taking a stroll along the beach. I saw fishermen crying miserably. They were lamenting that they were going to die of starvation.

I asked them the reason.

A fisherman wailed, “There are no fish in sea. What shall we catch?”

To know the reason for the disappearance of the fish I dived into the sea. I saw a gigantic whale devouring fish out of existence. It angered me and you know what happened?”

The other three asked, “What happened?”

The third one revealed, “The heat of my anger caused the sea to boil. The whale flew into the sky to save it’s like. I leapt and hung by its tale. Suddenly I saw a huge rock flying in the sky. I managed to land my feet on the rock and swung the whale to toss it into a far off inland pond. Now the fisherman are happy again.”

The fourth braggart spoke, “Once my grandpa molded such a long iron bar that he used to make rain whenever he like by rattling the clouds with it. One day he went into a cave to store it and he came out only after seventy years.”

While the braggarts were spinning their yarns a prince had come there and was listening with great interest. After the fourth one’s tale the braggarts asked the reason of his appearance.

The prince revealed, “Twenty years ago I had bought four slaves at a high price. They cheated me and ran away. Since then I have been looking for them. Now the search is over.”

The braggarts asked, “Have you found them?”

The prince replied, “You are those four. Come with me.”

Moral : Empty talk begets nothing but trouble because a braggart sets a trap for himself to fall in.