|| A tale from Australia ||
The town of Mulligan Hill was fond of sports and games, just like most of Australia. Especially the sportsmen of Mulligan were known to be ruthless. They formed a tight-knit group and were always winning local games, sports and gambling contests.
The group contained people having many different talents. One person could long jump seven feet, another could shoot eight out of ten birds from 30 feet away, another could score well in billiards and so on. Since they were generally successful, they started becoming proud and rogue.
Instead of being respectful, they started mocking the teams that they defeated. Once in a certain running race, another another team won. Next few days they hunted all over town, found an athlete of Jamaican origin, who managed to defeat the other team in next race. After the race, they abused and mocked the athlete of the other team.
One day three of the Mulligan sportsmen set out to go to Sydney by train. They had just won some money in bird shooting. They intended to go to a bigger contest in Sydney and double the pool of money.
So they went to the train station and got into the train. The carriage was almost empty. Apart from the three of them, there were just two other people: a priest and another man. To pass time, one of the Mulligan men brought out a deck of cards and proposed to play poker. But they couldn’t just play for fun, they were too habituated to play to win a reward.
So they agreed to play for money and requested the other man and the priest. The man agreed but the priest hesitated. Finally he agreed saying, ” My station isn’t a long way off, playing for a while wouldn’t hurt I suppose”. The Mulligan men thought that winning against these men would be some easy money they would make while they travelled.
The game started with small sums and the Mulligan men were doing well. One of them would win, so the money kept coming in small sums.
The priest asked them, “You lads are going to the races at the fair?”
They said they were. ” You better be careful. The gamekeepers are very cunning. I wouldn’t bet much if I were you”, he advised.
“We’ll show this priest that we can well take care of ourselves”, the Mulligan men thought. They chuckled to themselves when they imagined telling the story to folks at home on how they duped a priest.
The game moved on. The priest and the other man won slightly. This was part of the strategy of the Mulligan men, to lead on the two passengers to take a wrong plunge.
As the priest’s station was getting close, the Mulligan men signalled to each other to tighten the game. It was time to recover the lost money and clean out the priest and the other guy.
In the next game, they raised the stakes. Poker is a game where a man need not risk unless he feels inclined. So the priest stood out of the round. Consequently, he was still left with a small sum of money when his station came.
He looked at the men and said, ” Lads, I don’t like going away with your money. Let me play until the next station so you can get your revenge and get your money back”. And he sat down and resumed play in earnest.
The men weren’t pleased. Another round started. The priest seemed to have a good grasp and luck on his side. If he had a good hand, he backed it all the way. If not, he stood out and did not risk. So by the next station, he still was winning.
Though the men were not amused, they laughed and said, ” This is one lucky priest with the Devil’s luck. If he is so smart, he should come with us, play with higher stakes like we would” in a whisper, loud enough for the priest to hear.
The priest, slightly angry, looked back and said, “Why don’t we play higher stakes right here and see if I’m smart or just lucky”
So in the next game, they raised the stakes further.
The priest came back and sat down. However, he still was winning.
The oldest among the Mulligan men, Chuck, felt that something decisive must be done to win all the money back in one go. So, by dexeterity of hand, he dealt himself four kings, which is almost the best hand at poker.
Pretending to hesitate at first, he slowly raised the stakes higher and higher. The other players all got out at the painfully high stakes and watched the game with interest.
The priest said, “Sure you are bluffing” and continued to raise the stake in response. The Mulligan men were confident of winning everything back. After the money pool became very high, the priest said, “That’s enough. I challenge. Show me what you got”
Chuck, in dramatic fashion, laid the four kings he had. The priest looked for 2 seconds and laid down four aces and took the entire money. (If you know a bit of poker or cards, you’d know that ace is more valuable than king)
The Mulligan men don’t know how they got home. They were dazed, beaten at their own game by a priest. They borrowed money here and there and somehow made it back home. They resolved not to tell anybody at home.
After many weeks, the men once again boarded the train to Sydney to try their luck at the fair. There would be many kinds of games and gambles. This time, they resolved not to play any games with strangers, and definitely not priests in trains.
They got to the fair and were looking around in interest when they heard a voice shout, “Gentlmen, come on! If you don’t put down a brick, you can’t pick up a castle! (Means you have risk a little in money to win a jackpot).
If you can find the king of hearts in the pile of hearts, you get a pound. It costs you only half a Sovereign to play” It was the priest on the train, in the same costume, deftly dealing cards among the crowd as a gamekeeper at the fair.
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