The Bronze Rat

[Martin]

> >>A local tourist walked into a Brighton antique shop, in the UK ..

> >>

> >> After looking around for a while, he couldn't help but notice a

> >> bronze statue of a large rat. It had no price tag, but it was so

> >> detailed and lifelike that he decided he would like to buy it.

> >> So he asked the owner "How much is this bronze rat?"

> >>

> >> The owner replied: "Well, it is £12 for the rat, and £100 for the

> >> story."

> >>

> >> The tourist gave the man £12 and said: "I don't need any stories,

> >> I'll just take the rat, and you can keep the story."

> >>

> >> However, as he walked off down the street, he noticed that a few

> >> real rats had crawled out from the sewers and had begun following

> >> him. This was a little disconcerting, so he started to walk a little

> >> faster.

> >> But within a couple of blocks the swarm of rats had grown to

> >> hundreds, and they were all squealing and screeching and rapidly

> >> increasing their speed.

> >>

> >> He increased his speed and ran towards the beach. As he ran, he

> >> looked behind him and saw the rats now numbered in their millions,

> >> and they were looking really menacing.

> >> By now he was becoming very frightened, so he decided to make a run

> >> for it onto Brighton Pier. He ran to the end of the pier, and threw

> >> the bronze rat as far as he could out into the water, it sank immediately.

> >>

> >> With amazement, he watched as all the other rats scurried past him,

> >> and also dived into the water, quickly disapearing under the waves.

> >> None surfaced again and were all drowned.

> >>

> >> After some thought, the man decided to walk back to relate all this

> >> to the shop owner.

> >>

> >> The shop keeper saw him come into the shop, and said loudly "Ah, so

> >> you've come back for the story then!"

> >>

> >> "No," said the tourist - "Actually I came back to see if you've got

> >> a bronze Muslim fundamentalist, or anything French".