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Fun
Buscrat's fables
the mysterious mask
One day I was a fishin offa the deck of
my cabin and seen an 11-year-old feller
getting a lecture from his ma and pa. He
was a sixth grader, and was always in
trouble fer being the school bully.
I got to talking to the youngster about
his woes, and he said, "I wish I had
some friends. I always eat lunch alone
at school. Everyone hates me."
So, I got a mysterious mask out of my
cellar and handed it to the young lad.
"This mask gots sumpin’ very unique
about it,” I said. “Wear it every day, and
after six months everyone’ll be treating
you the way you want ‘em too."
"That's ridiculous," he said. "Why would
anybody change their opinion of me just
because I wore this stupid mask?"
"That's because it gots magical
qualities," I responded. "When you
wear it, everybody will see you as a
different person."
"But I can see right through it.
They'll still be able to see me, and
they'll still hate me."
"When you wear it, they you won't
see you for the person you’ve
been,” I said. “They'll see the person
you want to become—however,
you want everyone to know you.”
Reluctantly, the boy went to school
the next Monday wearing the mask.
Nobody said nothin’ about it. They
didn't notice he was even wearing
it. So far, so good, he thunk.
Then he saw a fifth grader walking
with his books and lunch in one
hand, and a poster for his science
fair project in the other, trying not
to drag it. The masked boy liked
teasing younger kids and saw his
opportunity to knock the poster out
the fifth grader’s hand. As he approached,
the masked sixth grader
tried to knock the poster out of the
younger boy’s hand but instead
grabbed it and said, "Here, let me
help you. You've got your hands
full."
The fifth grader, seeing it was the
bully everybody despised, was
astonished.
The masked boy thought, "whatta
heck am I doing?" He even surprised
hisself!
Then the masked boy saw another
sixth grade girl who he liked to tease
about her about her ugly glasses. “Hey
ugly, where'd you get the glasses," was
what he meant to say, but the words
that came out were, "Hey Rachel, I saw
you playing tetherball at recess. You're
pretty good."
She was astonished to hear the bully
say something nice. He was also astonished.
It wasn’t what he meant to say
at all.
During class the teacher gave out
a math test and then walked out of
the classroom. The masked boy saw
another kid cheating. Because he loved
tattling, he leaned over to say, "I'm
telling the teacher you were cheating,"
but instead the words that came out of
his mouth were, "hey Tony, I can help
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you with your math during lunch if
you'd like."
The other kid looked at the masked
boy suspiciously and gave him weird
look. He always tells on everyone, so
why is he being so nice now? he thought
to himself.
The masked sixth grader also gave a
weird look. What is going on here?
Everything I want to say comes out different,
he thought.
The other kid accepted the offer for
help.
Six months later the sixth grader
thanked me fer borrowing him my
mask. He said every time he goes into
the lunch room lots of kids come over
and sit next to him. They even walk
home with him to play after school.
Then he said thanky fer letting him
use the mask and was amazed about its
magical qualities that made everyone
around him see him in a new light.
Buscrat's fables are simple stories that
teach a moral. Buscrat welcomes you
to visit buscratsfables.com and post your
comments regarding the fable.
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