[Gutenberg 41926] • Friar Tuck / Being the Chronicles of the Reverend John Carmichael, of Wyoming, U. S. A.

It's a curious thing-life. Ya might just as well ask a kitten to chase her own tail or a dog to bay at the evenin' star, or a periodical spring to run constant, as to ask a feller right out to tell a story. Some things can only be done spontaneous. Friar Tuck used to say 'at whenever he could cut it, he allus got on the lee side o' human nature and let it blow down on him natural; and my way o' gettin' to the lee side o' human nature in story-tellin' is not to ask for a story, but to start tellin' one myself. And it's a good plan not to put over too good a one either; 'cause if it seems as though a feller is short run on stories, some listener is likely to take pity on him and fit him out with a new assortment so as he won't be such bad company for himself when he's alone again. This is the way I've picked up most o' my stories. Then again, it's allus hard for me to tell what is the true beginnin' of a story. It's easy enough to tell cream from milk-after the milk has stood long enough for the cream to rise to the top; but the great trouble is, that a man's own recollections haven't stood long enough for him to skim out just what part he might be in need of.