The three braggarts

Once three friends were bragging about their younger days in the army. Two of them were saying that when they were soldiers they had killed many, many people. All three of them were at a friend’s house and all the members of the friend’s family — the parents, children and grandchildren — were all listening to them with deep admiration.

One of the men said that he had cut off the legs of a giant who was extremely powerful. The other one said, “True, I saw it. But just before he cut off his legs I cut off his arms.”

The first one said, “It was much more important to cut off his legs. Because I cut off his legs, the giant could no longer move around and appreciate the beauty of nature. Without hands and arms, one can still see the beautiful and vast world. But because of me, this extremely powerful giant could no longer walk!”

The second one said, “That is true. But even without legs one can still grasp things. Because I cut off his arms, the giant could no longer eat food or in any way lead a useful life. What I did was infinitely more significant than cutting off his legs.”

The third one had all along remained silent. Finally he said, “It is true that one of them cut off the arms and the other cut off the legs. But do you know how they were able to do this? They were able to do this because I cut off the giant’s head first. Once I cut off his head, naturally they could easily cut off his arms and legs.”