We Will Never Know

I've always loved that old fable about the traveler going through

the night, seeing up ahead of him in the dim and rainy mist a Great Castle rising out of the mountain with the glowing lights on.

The story goes that the night was Cold and the weather was not looking to get any better, and he the traveler stopped and knocked on the door. When the gate keeper came, he asked, "May I come in?"

The Castle Keeper said, "Not only may you come in but you may eat with us too."

The traveler was delighted and after settling into his room he was called to eat. The food was wonderful; the Castle Keepers were warm and it was a beautiful evening, safe and dry and warm.

Because the weather was so bad, the Castle Keepers asked the traveler to stay the night. He said that he did have to move on but he agreed to stay, on the basis that they would supply him with a few things for his room.

"What is it you want," they asked.

The traveler thought for awhile and said, "If I spend this night with you, I must have in my own room for myself alone this night a pound of butter, a pair of parrots, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone."

Certainly this request was unusual but the Castle Keepers set off looking for these items. It wasn't easy but the Kepers scurried around the huge castle and in time found all the requested items.

The weather continued bad, and as the Castle Keepers went to sleep that night, they heard the awful banging, the worst progression of halftones and squeaks and terrible squawks coming from the travelers room. What the heck is all that noise, was the mutual befuddlement of all the Castle residence.

Because the weather continued bad into the next day, and out of curiosity the Keepers invited the traveler to stay on another night.

The traveler agreed, and he asked again for that mysterious

list of the same things: a pound of butter, a pair of parrots, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone. Both nights he requested those things, and each night they heard the

awful noises, until finally it was time for him to leave. The oldest Castle Keeper walked the traveler to the door and said, "We were glad to have you and were happy to supply all of those things, but would you mind telling us why you asked for them?"

The stranger said, "Well, it is a family secret. It has been in our

family for years and years, but if you promise not to tell another

living soul, I'll tell you." And so he told the old Castle Keeper all his

heart, and the old Keeper, being a man of his word, never told another

living soul…and so we shall never know!

Is there a moral to this story?

"No, except that things like this really irritate me!"