Slipped Out

If you were expecting a sexual reference, you will find none in this blog.

Selling out huh.

Well, let me tell you all a story. A very, very short story.

Let’s say there was a bunny whose name was Jack. Now, Jack was very agile, and very fast at running, and so he was praised by the elders for being a little champ.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was Todd the turtle. He was also well liked by the others for being smart, educated, but he wasn’t particularly good at sports or anything.

They both attend a primary school, Fresh Evergreen Elementary, or FVE for short.

One random sunny day, the principal of the school, Poe the Porcupine, decided to host an athletics festival. It was completely out of the blue, but Poe was tired of playing games in his office all day, and wanted some real excitement. Despite protests from the vice-principal, Valerie Viper, Poe decided to just run with it.

And so, three events were born.

The first event was the 100m sprint. A representative from each class was selected, and of course, Jack the Rabbit, being the fastest in his class, was chosen. Knowing that he had no chance, Todd hatched a malicious plan to win the race.

Since Jack the rabbit had such a high standing among his peers as an athlete, he is insured for health. This meant that if he was injured, he would be compensated by the people who are betting that he wins. If he wins the race, the people that bet on his winning from the pool will get all the winnings, and divide it among them, along with a bonus for Jack the rabbit. But of course, since everyone expected that Jack would win, all of the pool was composed of people betting that Jack would win. The incentive to participate in the betting process is the match that Poe the principal made to make things exciting. For every acorn in the pool, Poe would match that acorn.

The current pool of acorns: 550
The total pool after matched: 1100.
# of participants: 110, who donated 5 acorns each.

Now if Jack won, he would get 10 acorns, while all the people that contributed to the pool would get 9 acorns! Since he was in the race, he couldn’t bet for himself. Obviously.

Now Todd the turtle saw something very interesting. Since Jack wasn’t too bright of an individual, and if Todd gave Jack the incentive to lose, the pool would ultimately go to the people that best against Jack winning – and since no one did that, there wasn’t anyone about to start.

So Todd thought of the perfect plan. He would bribe Jack with 20 acorns, double of the reward if he won, and if Jack takes the bribe, he would lose on purpose.

Todd organizes a group of individuals, and eventually they fetch up 20 acorns to present to Jack. Behind closed doors, the deal was made. Midway through the race, Jack would pretend to trip, and let Haley the Hedgehog win the race. Since the pool was to bet for Jack to win or lose, there wasn’t any suspicions. Todd and his friends all placed a bet against Jack.

The race progressed, and as expected, Haley won.

All the other animals knew that something was wrong. Not only did they have to compensate Jack the rabbit for his injuries, they lost the entire pool to Todd and his friends! Obviously, they cheated. Or hacked the system!

But Todd just mentioned that there wasn’t any proof, and that was that.

This is a true story. It did happen.

Just not with acorns.

And certainly not with animals.

🙂

Oh, and the second and third events? by that time, everyone else just stopped betting, so those weren’t important. Haha.