The Sweet-Scented Name/So Arose a Misunderstanding
So Arose a Misunderstanding
A BOY once asked:
"What is coming?"
"I don't know," said his mother.
"But I know," said the boy.
"What?" asked the mother.
The boy laughed and answered:
"I shan't say."
Mother got angry, complained to papa. Papa cried out:
"What are you laughing about?"
"What?" said the little boy.
"Insulting your mother! What do you know?"
The boy went pale and answered:
"I don't know anything. I was joking."
Papa got more and more angry. He thought the boy knew something, so he bellowed at him in a dreadful voice:
"Say out what you know! Say what is coming!"
The boy began to cry and could not say what was coming.
In that way arose a misunderstanding.