“A flute blower came along and said there was a stench in the lasagne parlour.”

To: Don Wise

From: Paul Servant

Re: A tale of smelly lasagne

Once upon a time in a far away place called Middle Dearth there was a lasagne maker that no one really thought about. The local princes and princesses said it made very good lasagne but that it took too long and was too expensive.

The lasagne owners went away and imported some new ingredients from Romania that made it fast and cheap and everyone was happy. Then one day a flute blower came along and said there was a stench coming from the lasagne parlour in Middle Dearth but the princes and princesses were used to it and couldn’t smell anything unpleasant.

Then another day a man who judges smells came along and said that the stench was overwhelming and so the princes and princesses found another man who sprinkles rose petals to make the smell go away and that was fine and all was well.

Then one day the king was passing by and noticed a smell, because the rose petals had wilted away, and he was offended by this and asked a noble Lord Roberts of France to find out why Middle Dearth smelt so much.

The princes and princesses all became very keen to help Lord Roberts understand why they couldn’t smell anything. They said that the parlour had always produced tasty lasagne and no one had ever cared about the smell before. They were sorry and now realised that they should have checked what was in the Romanian ingredients that could cause such as smell.

Lord Roberts said, “You should stop the stench, so you don’t need the rose petals. You have created a perfume business when you would do better to concentrate on tasty lasagne and meatballs. Oh well, at least you’ll know for next time”.  And the king said, “My princes and princesses are sorry for the smell and because they now recognise that stench best, they will be the best guardians to make the land smell sweetly.”

And they all smelt fragrantly ever after.

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