worlds shortest and best fable

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?"

The girl said, "Yes!", didn't complain too much when he bought tools, and usually helped him move and set up the larger ones.

And the guy lived happily ever after.

Once upon a time a man asked a woman, "Can I have a divorce?"

She said "Yes", and they lived happily ever after.

Once upon a time a guy bought a metal shop. Every week he would visit it to see what it had produced, but each week he found that it had produced nothing. This did not make him happy. This went on for three years. Nothing ever came out of it except dust. He finally decided to do something different. He cleaned up his shop, bought some metal and starting learning how to use the shop. He soon found that he could not make the things he wanted. He could only make simple things, but he wanted elaborate things. He kept trying, and worked even harder, but failed to make anything he thought was worth his time. He kept working though because he found out that while the items he produced were simple, he enjoyed the work. After many years of hard work he was finally producing things that he enjoyed.

Father, when you married us, didn't you tell me I had come to the end of all my troubles?" "Yes. But I didn't tell you which end."

From a Peanuts comic strip a few years ago, where Linus was pestering Lucy to tell him a bedtime story. Finally, Lucy gave in:

"Once upon a time a man was born. He lived, then he died. The end."

-jc-