Once upon a time 3 young scouts set out to have a weekend camping trip in a nearby field. They pitched their tent, played in the stream, made a bridge and got bored. So off they went to the High's Dairy Store to buy gum and candy.
Yes, they dared to walk along that fateful road, having learned nothing from previous experience. Upon their return, they discovered their peaceful campsite ransacked by another tribe of juvenile barbarians. So it goes.
Time came in the afternoon to make the campfire and it just seemed too difficult to dig through the field grass when one member forgot everything he had been taught and came up with the brilliant idea to simply burn through it. But ho. The grass did not burn straight down in a nice small campfire-sized circle. It spread.
The 3 scouts ran like hell to the stream and back many times but could not control the fire. Tent burned, eggs cooked in their shells, dogs and cats living together. Basically - a catastrophe of biblical proportion. And then the sirens came, and the firefighters and the entire field went up in smoke.
So it goes.
The 3 scouts figured death by parents and/or the authorities would surely come next. How could amends ever be made? And to face the troop and have to tell this tale of total incompetence? But the 3 scouts were as brave as they were stupid. They stood their ground and were prepared to meet their maker as the field's owners came forth with the captain of the firefighters. Perhaps, they soiled themselves in anticipation. It wasn't far off. The owner came forward.
"Thank you boys, for burning off the field. We do it every year." So it goes.
