99 Fables

95. The Prayer That Was Almost Answered

95 the prayer that was almost answered BEFORE HIM WAS A cemetery, and behind him were the hunters who wanted his skin, so the little fox jumped the wall and hid himself in a grave that had caved in at one side. He sighed with relief when he heard the hunters stop at the wall and turn back, knowing he had escaped disaster again; but before he felt safe to return to his den, he was confronted by a new danger, for a group of citizens, with floral pieces in their arms, were approaching the grave where he had found refuge. When they reached it, they bared their heads, while r 190 ] their leader began the address he had prepared. He said: "It is fitting that we observe this, the tenth anniversary of the death of Mrs. Ada Upshaw, the sainted founder of our association, with floral tributes testifying to our faith and devotion." The congregation, at this point, sighed and touched their eyes with their handkerchiefs. "Oh, how we miss you, Mrs. Upshaw!" they said. "Oh, if you could only know how we grieve for you and long to have you with us again." The orator bowed his head, and then went on with his address: "As the years go by, it becomes more and more evident what a loss our association has suffered in the departure from life of this great and estimable woman. Where can we find another as firm, as intolerant of sin, as generous with her time and money? Where can we find another as determined in crusading for the right, as aggressive, and yet as public-spirited?" The orator stopped and looked about him, as if he challenged the others to take issue with him. He cleared his throat, but before he could continue his speech, the congregation began to 'veep. "Come back to us, Mrs. Upshaw!" they begged. "Come back to us, and guide us again!" At that instant the fox saw a way to escape from his second dilemma of the afternoon, and he picked up a couple of bones and rattled them, groaning gently at the same time. There ,vas a sudden silence, and the [ 191 ] mourners stepped back from the grave, glancing nervously at one another. The leader quieted them. "Why are you frightened?" he asked. "It was nothing except the wind whistling through the gravestones." The congregation listened a moment, and then, reassured by the silence, they knelt at the graveside. "Come back to us, dear Mrs. Upshaw!" they pleaded. "Don't leave us here to grieve! Oh, if it were only possible for you to come back from the grave, how happy we would be!" At this moment, the fox heaved upward, and the slab above Mrs. Upshaw trembled and slid forward. Then he spoke in a shrill, petulant voice: "All right! I heard you! . . . I'll be with you just as soon as I can get my bones out of this shroud!" But the people who had prayed so earnestly for her return did not wait to see Mrs. Upshaw after all. Instead, they screamed, threw away their flowers, and ran for the gate, trampling one another in their haste and tumbling over the wall. The fox emerg~d quickly from his hiding place, but he never got a fair look at the people he had frightened so badly, for at that moment they were disappearing over a small hill against the horizon, their screams muffled a little by the distance. The fox laughed and trotted away in the direction of his lair. "It's a good thing that prayers aren't always answered," he said. "If they were, this would be even a more terrifying world to live in than it is now." [ 192 ] ...