On the first day, God created the dog...
God said, āSit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of 20 years.ā
The dog said, āThatās a long time to be barking. How about only 10 years and Iāll give you back the other 10?ā
So God agreed.
On the second day, God created the monkey and said, āEntertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, Iāll give you a 20-year life span.ā
The monkey said, āMonkey tricks for 20 years? Thatās a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back 10 like the dog did?ā
And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said, āYou must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmerās family. For this, I will give you a life span of 60 years.ā
The cow said, āThatās kind of a tough life you want me to live for 60 years. How about 20 and Iāll give back the other 40?ā
And God agreed again.
On the fourth day, God created humans and said, āEat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, Iāll give you 20 years.ā
But the human said, āOnly 20 years? Could you possibly give me my 20, the 40 the cow gave back, the 10 the monkey gave back, and the 10 the dog gave back? That makes 80, okay?ā
āOkay,ā said God. āYou asked for it.ā
So that is why for our first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next 40 years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next 10 years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last 10 years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.
