The cheater

One day two friends were relating all the village gossip. One friend said, “I feel so sorry for Peter. He is a good person, but when it comes to horse races, his horse always loses. So I feel very, very sorry for him.”

The other one said, “You feel sorry for Peter? Do you not know that he is a real rogue? Whenever we play cards, he shuffles the cards in a tricky way in order to win. Since he cannot shuffle the horses, he loses all the time. You feel sorry because his horse loses every time. I do not feel sorry for him at all. He deserves to lose. There he cannot shuffle, whereas when he plays cards, he shuffles the cards dishonestly and defeats everybody.”

The first one said, “I never knew that Peter was such a rogue. I will tell him that everybody knows what he is doing.”

The first friend was sympathising with Peter, but the other one felt that Peter deserved to lose money at the horse races. The first one went to his friend Peter and said, “Peter, I never knew that you were such a bad fellow. I have come to learn all about your cheating at cards. Since you do this kind of thing, your horse deserves to lose.”

Peter became furious and said, “Tell the fellow who says that I cheat at cards that God has given me a brain. I have more intelligence and more talent than any of you. That is why I defeat you all. Who asked you all to be idiots? You deserve to lose to me. Unfortunately, my horse does not have brains. I have been trying so hard to give him some brains so he can defeat the other horses. I am praying and praying to God that one day my horse will also be very clever the way I am clever. Just wait! When I do tricky things while playing cards, none of you can catch me. But someday my horse will acquire my intelligence. Then my horse will defeat all the other horses.”

The friend said, “All right, then let us wait. I am waiting for the day when your horse will have your brain!”