Resumo de A Practical Joke - Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was perhaps the most prolific of short story writers and short stories as a literary form reached its perfection in him. His fame is not confined to France alone. He has been translated into several languages and no short story writer in the world, if that species of humans have not yet extinguished, in whichever language he may be writing, can be unaware of his name. They say that laughter is the best medicine and many of his stories are at once thought provoking and make us have a good laugh too.

?A Practical Joke? is a story told in the first person. The narrator recalls two practical jokes, one played against him when he was already an adult and the other played by him when he was a school boy against a malicious old lady. He starts with the former. Some friends of the story teller, fond of jokes like himself, invited him to spend a few weeks with them in Picardy. He was given a rousing reception at the railway station with gunfire and they kissed and made such a fuss over him that he grew suspicious and told to himself ?Be careful old fox, there is something up.? He becomes overcautious, closed all doors and windows in the bedroom, removes the mattress and blankets from the cot and goes to sleep. When he was in deep sleep he found some great weight falling on his whole body and some hot liquid streaming down his neck. Horrified he gives a punch and gets several such punches in return. When he came out of the room he found it was broad daylight and the weight that fell on him was the waiter with breakfast tray. He laughed at the incident along with his friends. The real joke was the rousing reception, gunfires, kisses and all the fuss made on him.

The school boy was very mischievous. Using a harmless chemical made of calcium and phosphorous which when contacted with water crackles and catches fire, he played a joke on a rich relative who used to visit their family now and then. Some how this vindictive old lady had developed a dislike for the boy and she missed no occasion to speak ill of him. Naturally he wanted to take revenge. At night, before going to bed, the boy went into the old lady?s room, deposited the chemical in a receptacle, and was watching the room secretly. The lady came in, removed her false teeth and wig, and approached the receptacle. The boy ran to the garret to await developments. Suddenly some explosions were heard. The lady lied down, shell shocked without knowing what happened. They boy went down to his room and pretended to be asleep. His father knew the joke and gave a sound thrashing, with affection of course. The lady said in the dining table ?Oh, if only you knew, there are such strange disease.?

Read Maupassant and become wiser.

SATHYA

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