Tell Y’all A Story

I’m fixing to tell y’all a story.

Once upon a time there was this old dog on his way home who came to a clearing in the forest and decided to rest a spell before he continued on his way.

As he settled down into a bed of dry leaves and was about to lay his tired old head on his paws, he noticed there were some bones scattered about on the ground from some long-dead animal.

Thinking no more about the bones, he was just about to drift off into a blissful nap when a blur of motion back over his shoulder brought him back to reality. To his shock and dismay it was a young panther emerging from the edge of the forest and heading straight toward him!

The old dog thought to himself, “Oh, Lord, what am I going to do now? I’m too old and slow to outrun that young panther!”

It was true he was too old and slow to get away from the young panther, but just before the young panther pounced, he picked up one of the bones on the ground, licked it, and said out loud, “My, my, that sure was a good panther.”

When he heard this the young panther skidded to a halt and slunk back into the forest. When he was sure he had escaped the old dog, he said to himself, “Whew! That was close! That old dog almost got me!”

Now it happened there was a young squirrel sitting in a tree who had witnessed the entire scene. And in the past the young squirrel had had considerable trouble with the young panther attempting to catch him and eat him when he was on the ground digging up nuts.

The young squirrel saw an opportunity here whereby he might be able to make a deal with the young panther. So he followed him into the forest and told the young panther what had truly transpired.

As a token of his appreciation of the young squirrel having revealed to him how the old dog had tricked him, the young panther promised never to chase him again, and invited him to witness what he was going to do to that old dog. “You just jump up on my back squirrel, and you can be a witness to what a young panther can do to an old dog!”

Meanwhile, the old dog was taking his nap, but he always slept with one eye open. Once again he spied the young panther sneaking out of the edge of the forest, but noticed that this time he had a young squirrel on his back.

Pretending not to see them, and once again just before the young panther pounced, he spoke out loud again and said, “I wonder where that squirrel is? He promised to bring me another panther!”

The morale of the story is that youth and treachery will never be fixing to get the best of age and wisdom.