One time long ago, in an old village that lay in a valley, there was a town that worked especially hard. So hard in fact, that they never had time to enjoy the things their hard work provided them. Jokes did not exist.
One day a stray dog wandered into the village. But this was a very special dog. A dog with the most beautiful tail that anyone had ever seen before or since. In fact it was so beautiful that when he would walk down the street people would stop and stare ... some people would drop to their knees thinking it was a sign from God. All the other dogs were admittedly jealous, but they too couldn't help but stare in amazement at the wonderful spectacle of this tail. It was a mix of colors, different depending on the time of day and sunlight or shadow.
Simply put, a painter's brush couldn't even come close to recreating the colorful tail. Women fainted, grown men wept, and wild dogs were tamed in the presence of the tail on the back of this otherwise very ordinary dog.
At first when the dog arrived into town, everybody was happy, overjoyed even that such a sight could call this place home. All of the dogs wanted to be his best friend - the people too. Everyone wanted him in their homes as part of the family. But over time, the people grew tired of this dog strutting around town. Because you see, when he came around into view, you just couldn't help but stop and stare. And while you were staring you were really quite happy, but so happy that as soon as he left you'd forget what it was you were doing. It wasn’t long until accidents filled the streets.
If he walked through the market, tables would soon be toppled. If crossing a street, and just wait for the buggy accident to occur. Not even the playground was immune to this stray dog's charms. One day the kids were playing dodgeball ... it wasn't pretty what happened to those children that day.
Now, all of these mishaps would have easily been forgiven, because the townspeople really did love seeing that tail walk through the town. After all, what a beautiful sight it was.
But the problem was, he knew exactly what he was doing, that dog did. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed the attention, the power he held over everything around him. He even liked to make little birds fly into windows. Baby birds just learning to fly! Some even accused the dog of planning his "attacks" out ahead of time, always whispered behind closed doors so as not to become the next target.
The townspeople were helpless. Once they even tried to have a town hall meeting to discuss what could be done about the stray dog, but sure enough. He showed up and waved that tail and everybody swooned until the meeting was adjourned. It was plain as day, he was simply invincible.
One morning, however, he woke up and stretched and yawned, and then walked toward the market like he did every Sunday morning. But instead of stares and accidents, he heard shouts of joy. At first he thought he was imagining things, but it kept happening. Everywhere he went he heard a shout of joy and saw people jumping up and down. A little different than the normal awe he was held in, he thought, but this was still an acceptable level of attention. Quickly though, these shouts of joy turned into taunts. Taunts became laughter. The laughter turned to ridicule. Wondering what was going on, the dog turned around to see what was happening. He couldn't believe his eyes ... his tail was gone! It had just plain disappeared! In its place was a knotty old lump resembling a pig's tail more than anything recognizable. People were laughing everywhere and pointing and shouting, even the baby birds.
Not knowing what to do, the dog tried to see his tail up close. He kept trying to touch it with his nose to be sure this was really happening. Of course dogs can't turn that far around, and he kept running in circles trying to catch up to his own tail. This made everyone laugh at him even louder! He just kept running around and around while the laughter was bordering on hysteria. Embarrassed beyond belief, the dog ran far away into the woods and was never to be seen again.Soon, the laughter died down, and the town got back to normal.
But the remaining dogs remembered. They remembered how happy everyone was when they were laughing, happier than at any other time. So whenever anyone would start to get too serious again about work, there was always some dog somewhere ready to tell a joke, the only joke really, and start running around in circles trying to chase his own tail. Their focus broken by laughter once again, the people were able to appreciate what they were blessed with. And just in case they ever forgot ... there would always be a dog ready with a joke.
THE END