Old stories

Long long ago, there lived a lord who liked old stories very much in a country.
He called his men and made them tell old stories every night.
They told one old story after another but the lord was never tired of them.
Soon his men completely ran out of their old stories.
They talked and set a board along the streets here and there.
It said:
‘The person who can make the lord say ” I am tired of old stories.” shall have much money.’
Seeing this board, many people in the country applied and told their old stories in front of him.
But the lord asked the tellers one story after another as soon as they finished his story.
So they ran out of his stories.
“Is that all?” asked the lord.
The tellers left the castle without any reward.
One day a young lady went to the lord.
“I’ll tell you old stories until you get tired.” said the lady.
“Are you sure to tell me old stories until I get tired?” said the lord.
“Of course, I can.
But before telling stories, I ask a favor of you.
Whenever I have a pause, you must say, ‘Then what happened?’
If you don’t say so, I can’t speak forward.”
asked she.

“All right. I’ll say so.” said he.
“Long long ago, there was a willow in a village.”
“Then what happened?”
“A rat had babies in a hole of the tree.”
“Then what happened?”
“The babies grew up and crossed the bridge in front of the tree.”
“Then what happened?”
“A big rat climbed the bank, crying ‘ squeak, squeak.’ ”
“Then what happened?”
“The rat climbed the next bank, crying ‘ squeak, squeak.’ “.
“Then what happened?”
“The rat climbed the next bank, crying ‘ squeak, squeak.’ ”
“Then what happened?”
“The rat climbed the next bank, crying ‘ squeak, squeak.’ ”
The young lady repeated this sentence a hundred times.
“Then what happened?” said the lord the same times but at last he got tired.
“I am tired of this old story.” said he and returned to his room.
She got much money.

The end