Meeting a Famous Liar

The following is an excerpt from Ron Strickland's book:   Vermonters -- Oral Histories from Down Country to the Northeast Kingdom. This story was told by Chester "Chet" Grimes, a horse logger and storyteller. See our Books Reviewed in 2000 for more information about this collection of histories.

One time we were up on East Hill with the four horses honing the road. One team was picking up sod and stones and filling in holes with em. And this Jimmy Peters come by.

Oh, he was an awful liar. Them Peterses was quite a rig anyway. Everybody knew he was an awful liar. He had his horse and buggy and was driving right along with a little switch in his hand. Somebody said to him, "C'mon, Jimmy, and tell us a lie."

"God," he said, "I can't. A man was on his barn roof shingling and fell off and broke his leg and I'm headed for the doctor."

Jimmy struck the horse with his switch and away down the road he went. Well, we knew that fella well. We'd been honing by there and picking sod and he'd been on the roof shingling. Well we set down to dinner and Gerry, the road commissioner, said, "Let's go back over and see if there's anything we can do to help him." We all piled in my wagon, four or five of us, and we drove back over there.

And here set the old man on his steps smoking his pipe, just a nice as a pin. There warn't nothing wrong with him atall. He hadn't fell and broke his leg.

Peters said he didn't have time to tell us a lie but when we got over there that old man hadn't fell and broke his leg at all.

Source: Vermonters: Oral Histories from Down Country to the Northeast Kingdom, Ron Strickland, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1998.