Изложение текста:
“let there be peace”
a wise old gentleman retired and bought a small house in the new surroundings. there was a junior school nearby. he spent the first few weeks in his new home in peace reading books about legendary historic characters, works of great philosophers and even fairy tales full of wizards and witches. occasionally some people passed his house. evidently they were going to the school to enrol their children there. rarely in the morning he could see the school caretaker near the solid stone wall of the school yard.
then a new school year began. the next afternoon three young boys full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm came down his street. they were messing around beating loudly on every trash can there was. that continued day after day. the wise old gentleman didn’t like that awful noise. he understood he couldn’t force the children to stop it. it wasn’t even possible to warn them. they wouldn’t listen and would be able to make his life even worse. but something had to be done. concentrating on this complicated problem the wise gentleman thought of a plan and hoped it would work. what do you think he decided to do?
the next afternoon, he walked out to meet the three boys. stopping them he said, “you kids have a lot of fun. i like to see you express your feelings like that. when i was your age i used to do the same thing and not too rarely i assure you. will you do me a favour? i’ll give you each a dollar if you promise to come around every day and do your thing.” the kids were happy.
after a few days, the old gentleman greeted the kids again, but this time there was a sad smile on his face.
“we are living in hard times,” he said, “and i’m not made of money. from now on, i’ll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the bins.” the noisemakers were very displeased, but they agreed to continue their afternoon “concerts”.
a few days later the gentleman talked to the boys again. “look,” he said, “i haven’t got my money yet, so i won’t be able to give you more than 25 cents. will that be okay? ”
“what? twenty-five cents? ” the boys exclaimed. “if you think we’re going to waste our time beating these trash cans for this money, you’re crazy. no way, mister.” with these words the boys vanished. the old gentleman felt quite relieved: he knew that he would enjoy peace and quiet for the rest of his days.​