Old Father Jonas

Old Father Jonas had been having a difficult time.

"It's just one of those lives," his good old woman often told him.

He was not comforted. "I work from dawn to dusk. The cattle eat and drink and sleep, and I clean their filth and slave to keep them content."

His good old woman cried, "Have you no caution? We have a beautiful daughter! How dare you complain?"

"If only there were something here precious, my good old woman, something to sell for a handsome brooch for you, for a dowry to buy our sweet daughter a good man!"

"Hush! Hush, my reckless old man! Beware that you may be granted that for which you wish!"

That night, the maniac, Andre Bludgett, broke out of his cell and made his way to Jonas's barn. There he hid till dawn, when Jonas came to milk the cows, collect the eggs, and clean the stables. The maniac slit Jonas's belly with a rusty knife, gorged himself on the stuff in Jonas's bloody guts, then pinned the remainder of Jonas's entrails to the dusty walls of the hayloft. For years and years after, curious tourists paid Jonas's good old woman and sweet daughter many and many a heavy coin for the privilege of viewing the scene of Jonas's death.

Old Father Jonas by H. G. Gerjuoy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.