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Sunday 21 September 2014

Parentcraft


“My boy,” said an aged Father to his fiery and disobedient Son, “a hot temper is the soil of remorse. Promise me that when next you are angry you will count one hundred before you move or speak.” 

No sooner had the Son promised than he received a stinging blow from the paternal walking-stick, and by the time he had counted to seventy-five had the unhappiness to see the old man jump into a waiting cab and whirl away.

Ambrose Bierce - Fantastic Fables (1899)

3 comments:

Sackerson said...

The young fool could have counted in intervals of 10 - or, of course, 100.

Sam Vega said...

If it's a different unhappiness that the boy experienced, then he ought to start counting all over again. With some people the penny takes longer to drop.

Presumably, the wise Dad understood this.

A K Haart said...

Sackers - ah but he couldn't bring himself to cheat on his old man. Until the next time.

Sam - I'm not sure how wise Dad was because he could only pull the trick once.