. . . say Cheese!

I haven’t participated in Sunday Scribbings for a while but this week’s prompt, “Cheese,” reminded me of a fable I heard many years ago. So many years in fact, I have probably made many changes in the retelling. But I think you should get a chuckle out of it anyways . . .

. . . Say Cheese

It was the middle of a hot, dry summer and a fly was resting on a leaf on a limb of a tree that was bent down close to the surface of a lake. The fly was so hot and so dry and he said to no one in particular, “Gosh, if I go down three inches I will be able to feel the mist from the water and I will be refreshed.”

Just below the water’s surface, a fish circled slowly,                        carefully watching the fly on the leaf above the water. The fish had been watching the fly in hopes it would fall into the water. He became excited to hear the fly’s plan to come closer to the water. “Gosh, if the fly comes down three inches, I can jump out of the water and catch him and eat him!”

Now there also happened to be a bear hiding behind a tree on the shore of the lake. He had been watching the drama unfold between the fly and the fish. “Gosh, if that fly goes down three inches, that fish will jump out of the water to catch it and I will be able to grab the fish!”

 

As it would happen on this hot summer day, a hunter was further up the bank of the lake, preparing to eat a cheese sandwich as he watched the drama unfold between the fly, the fish and the bear.  “Gosh!” he thought, “If that fly goes down three inches and that fish leaps for it, then that bear will come out of his hiding place and grab for the fish. I’ll shoot the bear and then I will have a proper lunch.”

You are probably thinking this is enough drama for one bank of a lake, but I can assure you there was more.

A wee mouse sat by the hunter’s foot, eyeing the cheese sandwich the hunter had made. “Gosh, if that fly goes down three inches and that fish jumps for that fly and that bear grabs for that fish, the dumb hunter will drop his cheese sandwich so he can shoot that bear!”

Unfortunately, the mouse did not know a cat was lurking in the bushes, also watching the drama unfold that hot summer day on the bank of the lake.  Gosh, if that fly goes down three inches…
and that fish jumps for that fly…
and that bear grabs for that fish …
and that hunter shoots that bear…
and that mouse makes off with the cheese sandwich…
then I can have mouse and a cheese sandwich for lunch!”

The poor fly, finally so hot and so dry, decided to head down for the cooling mist of the water…
The fish jumped out of the water and swallowed the fly…
The bear came out from behind the tree and grabbed the fish…            The hunter dropped his cheese sandwich and shot the bear…
The mouse grabbed the cheese sandwich…
The cat jumps for the mouse…
The mouse ducks…
The cat falls into the water and drowns.

The moral of the story is…

Whenever a fly goes down three inches,  somewhere there’s a pussy in trouble.