Once upon a time, in a quiet countryside, there lived a mischievous little boy. He had quite a peculiar dilemma – his family had an outhouse! You see, this outhouse wasn’t the most pleasant place to visit. It was unbearably hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, and the stench was simply unbearable.
Sitting on the edge of a swiftly flowing creek, the outhouse became the boy’s biggest enemy. Determined and full of mischief, the boy promised himself that one day he would conquer his nemesis and send that old outhouse sprawling into the creek.
The perfect opportunity presented itself after a heavy spring rain. The swollen creek seemed to be calling out to the boy, urging him to take action. With a large stick in hand, he mustered all his strength and began to push the wretched outhouse.
After much effort, the outhouse finally met its fate – it toppled over into the raging creek and began to float away. Victory was his!
However, his moment of triumph was short-lived. That night, as the family sat down for supper, the boy’s father dropped a bombshell. He announced that they would be heading to the woodshed after the meal. Fear immediately gripped the little boy’s heart, as he knew all too well what awaited him in the woodshed – a spanking.
Cautiously, the little boy gathered the courage to ask his father why he was being punished. His father looked at him sternly and asked, “Did you push the outhouse into the creek today?”. The boy hesitated for a moment but then confessed, “Yes, it was me.”
In an attempt to free himself from the impending punishment, the boy quickly recalled a story he had heard in school that day about George Washington and a cherry tree. With hope in his eyes, he told his father, “Dad, I read in school today that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and didn’t get into trouble because he told the truth!”
His father looked at him, his expression softening, and replied, “Well, my son, remember, George Washington’s father wasn’t in that cherry tree.”
The little boy’s mischievousness had met its match in his father’s wisdom. But this misadventure would forever remain a fond childhood memory, as a lesson in honesty and the consequences of one’s actions.
