Thread by @Joannechocolat

There is a story the bees used to tell, which makes it hard to disbelieve. #Storytime

A family renting a town house were unhappy with their landlord.#Storytime

They said: “Why can we not decorate the house as we please? Why is there mould in the bathroom? Why are the curtains not to our taste?”#Storytime

The landlord, irked by their complaints, and bored by the many meetings the family insisted he attend, finally said: “Would you like me to change the decor?”
“Oh, yes,” replied the family.

“Very well,” the landlord said. “I shall appoint a designer to radically refurbish the interior of the house.” #Storytime

The members of the family were eager to know the changes planned by the new designer. But the landlord would only say: “His designs will be new, and fresh, and very strong and stable.”#Storytime

The family waited impatiently for the arrival of the new designer.#Storytime

Finally, the designer arrived. But, to the family’s surprise, he was not a man, but a horse. He trampled all their possessions, and sure enough, thanks to his deposits of fresh dung in every room of the house, the place very soon smelt strongly of the stables.#Storytime

“This is terrible,” said the family. “This isn’t what we wanted at all.”
#Storytime

“Oh, it will be all right soon enough,” the landlord assured them. “I have already appointed a special manager to deal with the problem of the horse manure, and I am certain that within a year or two, the house will be clear and fresh again.”#Storytime

“Two years?” exclaimed the family.
“These things take time,” said the landlord. “Meantime, I suggest you show a little gratitude for everything I have done for you.”#Storytime

And so the family waited for the special manager to arrive. When he did, however, they were surprised to see that the new manager was a pig.#Storytime

The pig and the horse together rampaged all over the house, and what the horse had not already eaten, the pig gobbled up. Nor was his dung any sweeter, or less abundant than the dung left by the horse, and which now filled the whole house.#Storytime

The family complained to the landlord.#Storytime

“But this is what you asked for,” he said. “It’s far too late to change your minds now. Just try and be patient, and wait awhile, and in ten years or so I’m sure there will be a great improvement to your overall living conditions.” #Storytime

“Ten years?” exclaimed the family.
“Ten years at least,” said the landlord. “But thanks to my new colleague, the elephant, who will be taking over the role of live-in adviser to the other two, I think I can guarantee some exciting new changes in the immediate future.” #Storytime

"Really?" said the family. "And will the elephant fix the mould in the bathroom, and change those curtains we didn't like?" #Storytime

"Anything's possible," said the landlord. "But obviously, his main job will be to solve the current hygiene problem." #Storytime

"Meanwhile," he went on, "I suggest you begin to stock up on canned food, and maybe some air freshener, because frankly, you're all starting to smell a bit ripe to me." #Storytime

And so the family did as he said, telling themselves that this was the change that they had asked the landlord for. #Storytime

"Besides," they said, "the elephant is bound to be better at his job than either the horse or the pig. I mean, really - how much worse can it be?" #Storytime
The end