[PW] [Publib] "the horse may talk"

[Dennis Lien]

>
> > For decades, I have been telling a story that I believe I learned from
> > WBAIradio in the early 1970s, identified as a Sufi story. I have never
> > successfully tracked it down, although my approach has been desultory over
> > the years. I would be very grateful if a womb at t or a a publibber might be
> > able to point me in a direction. Here is the story, as I know it.
> >
> >
> > A man had offended the king, and was sentenced to death.
> > "Oh your majesty!" he pleaded. "Allow me but one year, and I will teach 
> your
> > horse to talk."
> > Astonished, the king agreed.
> > The man's friend took him aside and asked, "why did you make such a foolish
> > promise?"
> > The man shrugged. "In a year, the king may die. In a year, I may die. In a
> > year, the horse may talk."
> >
> >
> > The last line has become a family catchphrase in many situation.
> >
> >
> > Thank you. GraceAnne


Google Book search shows a print source from 1976:

Congress and Foreign Policy: Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on 
Investigations of the... - Page 56
by United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. 
Special Subcommittee on Investigations - 1976 - 347 pages

... commenting on this reminded me of the man whoT after his conviction,
was told by the king : "I intend to sentence you to death, but not for 2 years,
and I will reconsider if by then you have taught my horse to talk.
Later, to his puzzled friends, the man explained his acquiescense:
"In these 2 years I may die a natural death. Or the king may die.
Or the horse may talk." Weakness is not the first word that comes to mind these
days when I think about the Congress and Foreign Policy. ...
Snippet view -


I think I'd first heard it long before 1976 myself, though -- possibly
in a Bennett Cerf joke collection or the like.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // d-lien at umn.edu