Shaggy Dog Story No. 15: The Brass Rat

The Brass Rat

A man walked into an antique shop. He looked around for a while and then noticed a beautiful brass rat. He picked up the brass rat and asked the shop owner how much it cost.

The owner said, "It's $10 for the brass rat and $1,000 for the story". The man paid the owner $10 and left the store with his brass rat.

As he left the store he noticed a little furry face peering at him from the gutter. Then he saw another furry whiskered face watching him. As he walked along the street he began to see rats everywhere he looked. They were coming out of trash cans, running out of downspouts, dropping down from roofs. They were everywhere!

The man began walking faster, hoping to get away from the rats but soon thousands were following him. He started running and tens of thousands of rats followed him, running even faster. He began to panic as hundreds of thousands of rats chased him. As he ran he noticed that he was approaching the river. In horror he saw millions of rats closing in on him and he had no means of escape!

He ran to the river bank and hurled the brass rat into the water. He watched as tens of millions of rats jumped into the water and drowned!

The man was quite shaken by all of this. He ran back to the antique shop and burst through the door. "So," the owner said. "You are back for the story?"

"No," the man said. I was just wondering if you had any brass politicians."

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