A FABLE

 

Mr Grouchy lived alone in a falling down cottage at the end of town as he preferred to be by himself.

The other residents of Niceville largely left him alone, respecting his wishes for privacy but occasionally would leave nice things at his doorstep like fresh fruit, baked products and the occasional bottle of wine.

For some reason this made My Grouchy angry and he tossed the donated items out into the street with a "pshaw!"

"Pshaw!"

After a while the townsfolk stopped leaving little gifts at Mr Grouchy's doorstep and went about their pleasant business in Niceville leaving My Grouchy alone.

Every morning and evening Mr Grouchy would peek out of the door of his falling down cottage to see if there was a little gift left for him of which, of course, there wasn't. This made Mr Grouchy sad and he said "Oh!"

"Oh!"

Weeks went by and still there were no unsolicited gifts for Mr Grouchy. It was as if the residents of Niceville had forgotten about him which, as it happens, they had.

Mr Grouchy was perplexed ...

"I'm perplexed."

... and he opened his door wide to call out down the street to the nicer parts of Niceville - "Where are my little gifts? Does no one want to leave me any gifts anymore?"

Mr Grouchy received no reply.