The Nut Tree
On the outskirts of town, there was a huge nut tree by the cemetery
fence.
One day two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by
the
tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you,
one for
me.
One for you, one for me," said one boy. The bucket was so full,
several
rolled out toward the fence.
Cycling down the road by the cemetery was a third boy. As he
passed,
he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed
down to
investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me.
One for
you, one for me." He knew what it was.
"Oh, my!" he shuddered, "It's Satan and St. Peter dividing the
souls
at the cemetery!"
He cycled down the road as fast as he could and found an old
man with
a cane, hobbling along.
"Come quick!" said the boy. "You won't believe what I heard.
Satan
and St. Peter are down at the cemetery dividing the souls."
The man said, "Shoo, you brat! Can't you see I'm finding it hard
to
walk as it is!" But after several pleas, the man hobbled to the
cemetery.
Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One
for
you, one for me...."
The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth! Let's
see
if we can see the devil himself." Shivering with fear, they peered
through the fence, yet they were still unable to see anything.
The old
man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter
and
tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of Satan.
At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. And one last
one for
you. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence, and
we'll be
done."
They say the old guy made it back to town 5 minutes before the
boy!
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