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Then the Spaniard was asked to swear that the horse was his own and he had had it for many years. Then the Indian asked to send for the horse. This was done. And the Indian said: ‘This man swears that he has had this horse for many years; let him, therefore tell you in which of the eyes the horse is blind.’

The Spaniard said at once: ‘In the right eye.’

‘You are wrong’, said the Indian. ‘Neither in the right nor in the left, it is not blind at all.’

And so the horse was returned to the Indian.

Dirty Boots

Once Swift went on a journey, accompanied by his servant. They were both on horseback. The journey was long, so when night came, they had to stop at an inn.

In the morning Swift asked for his boots. The servant brought them, but the writer saw that they were as dirty as the night before. ‘Why haven’t you cleaned my boots?’ he asked his lazy servant.

‘Well, sir, as you are going to ride today, I thought that if I cleaned them, they would soon be dirty again’.

‘All right, get the horses ready,’ Swift said, and went to have his breakfast. Then he paid his bill and left the inn. His servant was already in front of the inn with the horses.

‘Well, let’s go on.’

‘But, sir, I’m hungry, I haven’t had my breakfast yet.’

‘Never mind, if you had, you would soon be hungry again’, the author replied and rode away. The lazy servant had to follow his master, but he never forgot the lesson he had been taught.

A Traveller’s Tale

In the autumn of 1935, when I was a young man, I was traveling in the north-west of India. One evening, after hunting in the forest all day, I was returning alone to the place where I had put up my tent. It was getting dark, and I was walking along a narrow path. On my right was a wide river; on my left, a thick, dark forest. Suddenly I saw two green eyes looking at me from among the trees. A man-eating tiger was getting ready to jump on me.

What could I do? Should I jump into the river and hope to save my life by swimming? I looked to the right. In the river there was an immense crocodile waiting to welcome me with its mouth wide open.

I was so frightened that I shut my eyes. I heard branches moving as the tiger jumped. I opened my eyes. What do you think had happened? The tiger had jumped right over me and was now in the jaws of the crocodile. That’s a true story, believe it or not!

The Letter-Box Key

Once an Englishman went to the seashore for his summer holidays. He asked his housekeeper to post him all letters that she would receive during his absence. She promised him to do that.

The Englishman rested very well. A month passed but he received no letters. He thought it strange and he rang up his housekeeper:

‘Why didn’t you post my letters?’

‘Because you didn’t leave me the key of the letter-box,’ was the reply.

The Englishman apologized and promised to send her the key. In some days he put the key into an envelope, wrote down his address on it and posted the letter.

Another month was passing but still he did not receive the letters.

When at the end of the month he returned home, he spoke angrily with his housekeeper.