Focus on the fundamental issues of life.

The Will

Mr Conran was a very rich man, and very mean too. When he died he had 20 million pounds in the bank. He made all his money by selling very sticky sweets. His nickname was "The Dentist's Friend".

Mrs Conran had died ten years before. Mr Conran had only two relatives, his sons Joseph and Oliver. Joseph and Oliver were twins, identical twins. They were so alike that nobody could tell them apart. Not even their father.

Joseph and Oliver had left home when they were 20 years old, and they had never been back. They had never seen their father, or heard from him since they left home.

When the twin brothers heard about their father's death, they went to his house right away. Their fa­ther's lawyer, Ms Madoc, was there to meet them.

She said, "Come into the library. I must read your father's will."

They all went into the library and sat down. Ms Madoc took a piece of paper from the desk.

She said, "Your father made a very short will. It is in three parts. Part One says: I leave all my money to my son Oliver."

The lawyer turned to the twin brothers and said, "So which one of you is Oliver?"

Both the sons said, "I am. I'm Oliver!"

Ms Madoc looked very angry. She said, "But you can't both be Oliver. One of you must be a liar." Both the twins said, "He's the liar. I'm the real Oliver!" The twins argued and argued. Each called the other a liar and a cheat. Then they started to fight. Ms Madoc had to pull them apart.

She said, "I think I'd better read you the second part of your father's will. It says: If there is any argument about which son is the real Oliver, then I leave all my money to Joseph!"

Once again the lawyer turned to the twins and said, "Which one of you is Joseph?"

"I am!" cried the two sons with one voice.

The lawyer got very cross. She banged the desk with her fist and said, "But a minute ago you both said you were Oliver!"

"I was telling a fib," said one of the twins.

"No - I'm the real Oliver," shouted the other.

They argued and argued for nearly an hour. Both twins tried to prove he was the real Joseph. But Ms Madoc would not believe either of them. She called them both liars.

At last Ms Madoc said, "I think I must read you the third and final part of your father's will. It says: If both my sons, Oliver and Joseph turn out to be liars, then I leave all my money to Ms Madoc, my faithful lawyer."

So the twins left the house without a penny. The clever will had shown them both to be liars and cheats. But it wasn't their father who had tricked them. It was Ms Madoc. You see, all the time she had been reading the will she had been reading from a blank piece of paper. Mr Conran never made a will

Part II – Poetry

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14