The story about the art of listening

Somebody said that listening is the hardest out of the easiest thing we can do. Many years ago on the website of the Oxford Story Museum I found a story about what happens when you really listen. It got me thinking :)

Listen then ...

Once there was a wife who found her husband really dull. She decided to do smething about it so she sent him to the town to hear the storyteller.

The husband sat down in the crowd and began to listen to the stories but he was fast asleep. While he was sleeping, a dog came by and peed in his mouth. He woke up when the storyteller finished and went home.

- How was that? - asked his wife.

The husband smacked his lips thoughtfully.

- It was a bit salty - he said - not my taste

His wife thought that didn't sound quite right so she sent him back to see the storyteller again the next night. This time the crowd the crowd was even bigger. The husband fell asleep again and this time somebody stood on his shoulders to get a better view.

- How was that? - asked his wife when he got home.

- It was a bit too heavy for my taste - he told her this time.

Again she sent him back. This time decided to stay awake and really listen. And there was a story about King Arthur. The storyteller came to the part when King Arthur rode his horse out of the castle and across the drawbridge and dropped his sword Excalibur into the river. The husband was so inside the story that he dived into the water, swam down to the bottom, grabbed the sword and returned it to the King. He then returned to his seat in the audience for the rest of the story.

- How was that? - asked his wife again when he came back.

- It was great - he cried - I was part of it. I met King Arthur.

And from that day on, the wife never found her husband dull ever again.

And that's what happens when you really listen to stories.