Sitting reading some old stories written by an earlier Norwegian politicians, and one of the stories I wanted to share, as it holdes a deeper meaning, at a funny way 😅😅
The name of the book are:
When the sap rises, and it goes like this:
A woman had a tiny farm deep in the forest. Ever since she was little, her father had instilled in her that they were independent on the farm and belonged to the private sector, as he put it. Now it had come to the point where the only income she had was the small fee she charged for lending out an old billy goat she kept.
One day, a strict letter arrived in the mail from the tax chief. He claimed that she owed taxes for undeclared work, as it was evident that this had been going on for many years. On behalf of the municipality, he explained the rules regarding discretionary assessment and demanded a lump sum tax of 5000 kroner.
The woman found this outrageous, so she protested both by letter and phone, but to no avail. She didn't know what to do.
One morning, she heard the sound of a car, and there, rattling along the forest road, came the tax chief and an assistant, driving a small truck. They took the billy goat, handcuffed its legs, tied it securely, and told the woman that the goat would now serve in municipal service so they could recoup what she owed. Then they drove away with it! The woman honked and cried, standing on the doorstep with a handkerchief.
As the men were about to start the truck, they saw in the rearview mirror that the woman came rushing across the yard, leaned down toward the goat’s ear, and whispered. It actually looked as if the goat nodded!
Three weeks later, the men returned with the goat, dumped it heavily in the yard, and told the woman that this miserable goat was no good at all; it was impossible for her to have earned money on such a lazy animal.
The tax chief proclaimed:
– "Well, Anna, now you will get your goat back, and we will erase the debt. But on one condition: You must tell us what you whispered in its ear before we took it away."
– "Oh, that’s easy," she replied, "I just told him that when he was in municipal service, he shouldn't work any harder than the others there!"
