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When they met each morning the large lizard would tell weasel jokes and the weasel-lizard would tell fat-toad jokes. They both would laugh and have a good time with the rest of their friends.
After a while the fat lizard went to his friend to discuss a serious problem. The problem was simple. The fat lizard told his friend that every time he told a fat-toad joke it hurt him deeply. He said he would always laugh, but inside he would nearly croak.
His friend understood because he felt the same way about crafty-weasel jokes. Every time he heard one his stomach would crawl like it was full of thorny worms. They decided they had to do something about this situation or they would end up not being
breakfast-eating friends.
After several hours of talking they came upon a plan. They agreed that every time one of them
told a fat-frog or weasel joke the other friend would stick out his tongue.
This was there secret signal that the joke teller would have to give him a
nice big, juicy beetle from his own personal collection. The same
rule applied if either friend said negative things about himself. Both of them were proud of their personal collection of beetles, so the sacrifice was worth something.
This plan saved the friendship of our brilliant lizard friends. They learned that caring is much more than just doing nice things and having fun together. Caring is being sensitive to the feelings of every critter, friend or enemy. They learned that the practice of cutting
self or others down, even when it is supposed to be fun, is damaging...and
sometimes cruel. They learned to be sensitive lizards in an insensitive lizard world.
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