A young farmhand

A young farmhand is walking all by himself down a dirt road, when he stumbles upon a farmhouse. He knocks on the door, and an old farmer opens up.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm in need of a place to sleep for the night," the farmhand said.

The farmer replied, "Well, son, lucky for you, I have a cozy little area in my barn where you can sleep for as long as you want. All you have to do for me is tend to my fields."

The farmhand agreed and went to the barn, where he found an enormous pile of straw, which he figured was the farmer's entire stockpile for the year.

"That's the largest pile of straw I've ever seen!" he said to himself. "I wonder what all that straw on fire would look like!"

The young farmhand then lit the pile on fire, and watched the straw burn. The farmer, awoken by the bright light outside, came running to the barn.

"What are you doing?!" he asked.

"It was an accident, sir. It won't happen again."

The farmer, angry but understanding, put out the fire, and walked off back to bed.

The next day, after tending to the fields, the young farmhand thought about the pile of straw again.

"I wish I could see it *all* on fire," he thought to himself.

So, later that night, he lit the pile on fire again.

Again, the farmer came running out, shocked by what he was seeing

"Sir, my lamp fell over, and spilled hot oil on the straw," the farmhand cried.

"Help me put this out, boy, and don't let it happen again, or you're done for," the farmer said.

The next day, the farmhand just couldn't help himself. He **had** to see that pile of straw burn in a blaze of glory.

Late at night, in the early hours of the morning, the farmhand lit the pile of straw on fire. This time, the farmer was fast asleep, and didn't notice the inferno happening until nearly the entire pile had been incinerated. The farmer came running outside, where he found the farmhand standing next to the charred and completely straw-barren barn.

"That's the last straw, asshole."