Four Pranksters

Once upon a time there lived four pranksters in a small village. There wasn’t anything they liked more than sitting about in the inn and making up both believable and unbelievable stories. One evening, a traveller wandered into the inn. The pranksters thought he was rich, seeing him in his expensive clothes. All at once they hit upon the idea of robbing him of his clothes. They sat down with him, and one of them suggested a contest. Each had to tell the most unbelievable tale that they could... The catch was that their audience needed to believe them- and if they didn't – they would lose their clothes.

Without hesitation, the traveller nodded and the pranksters laughed in triumph. Only a fool would agree to something like that. He certainly wasn’t the kind who’d tell unbelievable stories. And even if he was, they wouldn’t lose – they would simply say they believed his every word. They asked the innkeeper to be their judge, and when all was set, the first prankster began his tale.

“The other night, when I was coming home from a dance, I threw my hat so high in the sky, it got hung on the crescent moon. Long I wondered how to get it back, until finally, I thought of this: I took a long rope with a loop on its end and threw it all the way to the moon. When the loop caught the moon, I pulled and pulled until the moon started swinging and finally the hat fell down.”

When he finished, he looked at the traveller. He just nodded and assured them he believed everything. The rest nodded, too, without questioning a single word. They poured more wine in their goblets and the second prankster began his tale.…