There once lived a lad who was deeply in love with a girl, but disliked by the girl’s father, who didn’t want to see any further development of their love. The lad was eager to write to the girl, yet he was quite sure that the father would read it first. So he wrote such a letter to the girl: My love for you I once expressed no longer lasts, instead, my distaste for you is growing with each passing day. Next time I see you, I even won’t like that look yours. I’ll do nothing but look away from you. You can never expect I’ll marry you. The last chat we had was so dull and dry that you shouldn’t think it made me eager to see you again. If we get married, I firmly believe I’ll live a hard life, I can never live happily with you, I’ll devote myself but not to you. No one else is more harsh and selfish and least solicitous and considerate than you. I sincerely want to let you know what I said is true. Please do me a favor by ending our relations and refrain from writing me a reply. Your letter is always full of things which displease me. You have no sincere care for me. So long! Please believe I don’t love you any longer. Don’t think I still have a love of you! Having read the letter, the father felt relieved and gave it to his daughter with a light heart. The girl also felt quite pleased after she read it carefully, her lad still had a deep love for her. Do you know why? In fact, she felt very sad when she read the letter for the first time. But she read it for a few more times and , at last, she found the key – only every other line should be read, that is the first line, the third, the fifth … and so on to the end. |