[00:00.00]Unit Two Wynnes Text A
[00:24.79]heated discussion about whether men are braver than women
[00:30.75]is settled in a rather unexpected way.
[00:35.71]THE DINNER PARTY
[00:38.66]Mona Gardner I first heard this tale in India
[00:44.51]where it is told as if true though any naturalist would know it couldn't be.
[00:51.67]Later someone told me that the story appeared in a magazine shortly before the First World War.
[00:59.25]That magazine story,and the person who wrote it,
[01:04.29]I have never been able to track down.
[01:08.73]The country is India.
[01:11.97]A colonial official and his wife are giving a large dinner party.
[01:17.92]They are seated with their guests officers and their wives,
[01:23.49]and a visiting American naturalist in their spacious dining room,
[01:29.97]which has a bare marble floor,
[01:34.01]open rafters and wide glass doors opening onto a veranda.
[01:40.68]A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl
[01:46.11]who says that women have out grown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era
[01:53.66]and a major who says that they haven't.
[01:57.73]"A woman's reaction in any crisis,"the major says,"is to scream.
[02:04.58] And while a man may feel like it,
[02:08.55]he has that ounce more of control than a woman has.
[02:13.88]And that last ounce is what really counts."
[02:18.61] The American does not join in the argument but watches the other guests.
[02:24.67]As he looks,he sees a strange expression come over the face of the hostess.
[02:31.33]She is staring straight ahead,her muscles contracting slightly.
[02:37.36]She motions to the native boy standing behind her chair
[02:42.61]and whispers something to him.
[02:46.09]The boy's eyes widen: he quickly leaves the room.
[02:51.55]Of the guests,none except the American notices this
[02:57.42]or sees the boy place a bowl of milk on the veranda just outside the open doors.
[03:04.97]The American comes to with a start.
[03:08.94]In India,milk in a bowl means only one thing bait for a snake.
[03:16.39]He realizes there must be a cobra in the room.
[03:21.06]He looks up at the rafters the likeliest place but they are bare.
[03:27.52]Three corners of the room are empty,
[03:31.46]and in the fourth the servants are waiting to serve the next course.
[03:36.82]There is only one place left under the table.
[03:42.17]His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others,
[03:48.73]but he knows the commotion would frighten the cobra into striking.
[03:54.06]He speaks quickly,the tone of his voice so commanding that it silences everyone.
[04:00.82]"I want to know just what control everyone at this table has.
[04:06.28]I will count three hundred that's five minutes
[04:10.83]and not one of you is to move a muscle.
[04:14.90]Those who move will forfeit 50 rupees.
[04:19.34]Ready!" The 20 people sit like stone images while he counts.
[04:26.42]He is saying"...two hundred and eighty..."
[04:30.79]when,out of the corner of his eye,
[04:35.15]he sees the cobra emerge and make for the bowl of milk.
[04:40.19]Screams ring out as he jumps to slam the veranda doors safely shut.
[04:46.54]"You were right,Major!"the host exclaims."
[04:51.00] A man has just shown us an example of perfect self-control."
[04:56.75]"Just a minute,"the American says,turning to his hostess.
[05:01.82]"Mrs.Wynnes,how did you know that cobra was in the room?"
[05:07.88]A faint smile lights up the woman's face as she replies:
[05:13.21]"Because it was crawling across my foot."