Back in 1929, before the stock market crashed, there
was this circus that was without a doubt the best
circus in the world. The reason it was so good was the
Lion Tamer. He was spectacular. He had an act with 10
lions that went about a half hour; the high point of
course was that he would stick his head in a lion's
mouth.
Well, the stock market crashed and the circus started
losing money, so the owner started selling off animals
and equipment to help meet expenses. He called the Lion
Tamer into his office.
"I'd really like to keep you on, because you keep the
circus going," the owner said. "But I've had to sell
your lions because they cost too much to feed. Still,
you're good, and we need you, so if you can come up
with an act with what we have left, you've got a job."
"Well, I do need a job," the Lion Tamer said. "What
animals do you have left?"
"Well, to tell you the truth," the owner said, "the
only animal I have left is my old Bassett hound."
"I'll take him."
The Lion Tamer worked with the Bassett hound and taught
him the entire lion act. The dog caught on right away,
but there was a problem: no way was the Lion Tamer's
head going to fit into the dog's mouth.
"My foot will fit," the Lion Tamer said, so he tried
it, and sure enough the dog picked that up too.
Opening night, the Lion Tamer did the act with the
Bassett hound, and the crowd loved it. They'd never
seen anything like it before. At the end of the act,
when the Lion Tamer put his foot into the dog's mouth,
the crowd went wild.
"Encore, encore!" the crowd yelled.
Well, the Lion Tamer hadn't thought of an encore
before, so he thought to himself, "If one foot is good,
two is better."
So he stuck his other foot into the dog's mouth. Well,
the two feet together are almost as big as the guy's
head, so the dog was choking and gasping, and finally
out of self-preservation, he clamped his jaws shut,
biting off the Lion Tamer's legs at mid-calf.
The moral of this story: Don't put all your legs in one
Bassett. |
