Humor is an important part of Asian storytelling. Chinese and Japanese puns abound, Indian telling can be rich in improvisational humor, while stock funny characters abound in all cultures. Enjoy a little laugh now...
Once in Osaka, a group of young men stood talking. All of a sudden, a man rushed up to them, looking quite terrified.
“Save me, save me!” he cried.
“What’s wrong?” someone asked.
“The bun seller is coming and I’m so, so scared of buns. Please help me. Don’t let him see me.”
The young men looked at each other, much amused. One pointed to a shack with thin walls and said, “Go hide in that old house.” The man thanked him, ran quickly to it, and disappeared within. Soon after, a seller with boxes of buns rode by on a bike.
“Let us have a little fun,” suggested one of the men. “We’ll buy all the buns and throw them at that coward. ”
The others laughed and rushed to buy buns. Each man held several buns as they formed a circle around the hut. Then, one at a time, each tossed a bun through one of the many holes and windows there. Every time a bun went in, they heard a “AAAHHH” or “HELP” or some such satisfying noise. At last all the buns were gone, all thrown in with many a frightened sound heard in reply. But suddenly, it was too quiet. No sound came from the house. The young men looked worried.
“Perhaps we went too far,” said one.
“I do hope we didn’t scare him to death,” whispered another.
“We’d better check and see if we can save him,” suggested the bravest man. Slowly he went toward the old door. Still no sound could be heard inside. With his heart beating too fast, he finally pushed open the door and looked in.
There sat the man afraid of buns. But he did not look frightened, he looked most contented and very full. With a smile, he brushed off the last crumb from his mouth.
“Ah, those buns were indeed fearful,” he said looking up at them. “Thank you for your help. And now, I’m so, so scared of a good, hot cup of tea.”TOP
A boy from Vietnam was opening a new stall to sell eggs in L.A.. He paid a coin to his friend, a sign painter.
“Please write ‘Fresh Eggs Sold Here,’”said the boy. The friend did, but then he looked at the sign and said, “Of course your eggs are fresh, you don’t need to write that,” and he erased Fresh.
And,” continued the friend, “everyone can see that you are here, you don’t need that word.” So he erased Here.
“Now,” said his friend, “nobody in the market gives away eggs, so why even write the word sold?” He erased Sold.
“Look,” finished the friend, “even a fool can see from your baskets that you are selling eggs. Better erase Eggs, too.” So he did. Then he walked away happily with his coin, leaving the boy with his eggs, a big frown, and a very blank sign.TOP
An American, a Russian, and an Indian were working together once in a metal factory. One day, the American made a good, sharp sword blade and showed it proudly to the others. Next, the Russian went to his workbench, sculpted a wonderful sword handle, and attached it firmly to the sword.
The Indian, not knowing what else he could add, thought for a moment, then quickly picked up the sword and carved across the blade in large letters, “Made in India.” TOP
One day, clever Nasruddin went to have lunch with a friend who loved music. The friend was delighted to have an audience and soon brought out one instrument after another. Although he did not have great skill, he still insisted upon playing something on each one. Nasruddin, who was growing most hungry, tried to listen with care. At last the friend had played all of his instruments, from the drums to the lute.
“Now, my friend,” said the musician. “You have heard many instruments. Which makes the best sound?”
“If you ask me to speak truthfully,” replied Nasruddin, “I think that the most beautiful sound in the world right now would be the sound of a spoon scraping my soup bowl.”TOP
TOP |
Home | Programs | Books | Asian
Tales | Telling Tips
Young Writers | Bio
| Links | Contact
Me | Site Map
WWW.CathySpagnoli.com
© Cathy Spagnoli, 2005 (latest update - now in CSS); please write for
reprint permission, info on bookings, or to give feedback. Thank you.