I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

I love teaching stories of all kinds.

I collect them.

Here's a famous story.

It's an ancient Mesopotamian tale made famous by the fact that it was the epigraph

of the acclaimed 1934 novel,

Appointment Insomera by American writer John O'Hara.

Here is my retelling of this famous story.

Once upon a time, long, long ago,

there lived a merchant in Baghdad.

One morning, the merchant set his servant to the marketplace to buy food for the house.

Before long, however, the servant returned to the house with a look of terror in his eyes.

The merchant asked his servant,

what framed you?

And the servant replied.

As I was passing through the market, I was jostled.

And when I turned to see who had done it,

I saw that it was death.

Death looked right at me and made a threatening gesture.

Please, sir, lend me your horse so that I can ride away from the city to avoid my fate.

I'll ride to the city of Samara so that death can't find me.

The merchant was a kind man and he took pity on his servant and lent him the use of his horse

...