HOUSEWARMING

After E finished a new house, he called A, B, C and D, who had helped him build it, to a housewarming. When he was ready to have the party, C had not yet appeared, and sadly E said, “The one who should have come didn’t.”

B heard him and thought, “So, it seems he didn’t want me to come,” and he left. As soon as E came to know that, he got worried and said, “Hey, he left when he didn’t have to.”

A heard that and I thought “If I look at it, I’m certainly the one whom he wants to leave.” A quickly went home. E saw that and, inappropriately pointing his finger, said, “Look! I didn’t say anything to him, but  . . .”

D heard him and thought, “So those words are meant for no one else but me.” He left in embarrassment and anger.

—Rdo rje tshe brtan, Qinghai Folk Literature 1, 1988.