Oh Nuts!

Two boy scouts went on a nature hike in the hills
picking hickory nuts. Along the way, they filled their
small pails and then started to fill
their pockets and shirts.

When they could hold no more nuts, they started
down the country road until they came across a cemetery.
The boys decided that would be a good
place to stop and rest and divide out the nuts.

The two boys sat in the shade of a large oak tree
and unloaded their pockets and buckets by dumping
all of the nuts in a large pile.

In the process, two of them rolled away and
rested near the road. The boys then proceeded to
divide out the nuts. “One for you. One for me.
One for you. One for me.”

As they were doing this, another boy was passing
by and happened to hear them. He looked into the
cemetery, but could not see the boys, because
they were obscured by the tree. He hesitated a
moment and then ran back to town.

“Father! Father!” he yelled as he entered his house.
“The cemetery. Come quick!”

“What’s the matter?” his father asked.

“No time to explain,” the boy frantically panted. “Follow me!”

The boy and his father ran up the country road
and stopped when they reached the cemetery.
They stopped at the side of the road and all fell
silent for a few moments. Then the father asked
his son what was wrong.

“Do you hear that?” he whispered. Both people
listened intently and heard the Scouts. “One for me.
One for you. One for me. One for you…”

The boy then blurted out, “The devil and the Lord
are dividing the souls!”

The father was skeptical but silent — until a few
moments later as the Scouts completed dividing out
the nuts and one Scout said to the other, “Now, as
soon as we get those two nuts down by the road,
we’ll have them all.”

They say the father made it back to town 5 minutes
before the boy!