khiemtran | Seen via Project Gutenberg...

green_knight may have seen this before, but it certainly brightened my day. Would you say this author knows a thing or two about storytelling?

"Now, before I conclude, which I must soon do because I am in
haste, (having just at this moment nothing to do,) and also have
no more room, as you see my paper is done, and I am very tired,
and my fingers tingling from writing so much, and lastly, even if
I had room, I don't know what I could say, except, indeed, a
story which I have a great mind to tell you. So listen! It is not
long since it happened, and in this very country too, where it
made a great sensation, for really it seemed almost incredible,
and, indeed, between ourselves, no one yet knows the result of
the affair. So, to be brief, about four miles from here--I can't
remember the name of the place, but it was either a village or a
hamlet, or something of that kind. Well, after all, it don't much
signify whether it was called Triebetrill or Burmsquick; there is
no doubt that it was some place or other. There a shepherd or
herdsman lived, who was pretty well advanced in years, but still
looked strong and robust; he was unmarried and well-to-do, and
lived happily. But before telling you the story, I must not
forget to say that this man had a most astounding voice when he
spoke; he terrified people when he spoke! Well! to make my tale
as short as possible, you must know that he had a dog called
Bellot, a very handsome large dog, white with black spots. Well!
this shepherd was going along with his sheep, for he had a flock
of eleven thousand under his care, and he had a staff in his
hand, with a pretty rose-colored topknot of ribbons, for he never
went out without his staff; such was his invariable custom. Now
to proceed; being tired, after having gone a couple of miles, he
sat down on a bank beside a river to rest. At last he fell
asleep, when he dreamt that he had lost all his sheep, and this
fear awoke him, but to his great joy he saw his flock close
beside him. At length he got up again and went on, but not for
long; indeed, half an hour could scarcely have elapsed, when he
came to a bridge which was very long, but with a parapet on both
sides to prevent any one falling into the river. Well; he looked
at his flock, and as he was obliged to cross the bridge, he began
to drive over his eleven thousand sheep. Now be so obliging as to
wait till the eleven thousand sheep are all safely across, and
then I will finish the story. I already told you that the result
is not yet known; I hope, however, that by the time I next write
to you, all the sheep will have crossed the bridge; but if not,
why should I care? So far as I am concerned, they might all have
stayed on this side. In the meantime you must accept the story so
far as it goes; what I really know to be true I have written, and
it is better to stop now than to tell you what is false, for in
that case you would probably have discredited the whole, whereas
now you will only disbelieve one half."

The writer? One "W.A.M"...