The Foolish Fugitive

(Luke 15:11–32, TAT*)

Feeling footloose, fancy-free and frisky, a feather-brained fellow finagled his father into forking over his fortune. Forthwith, he fled for foreign fields and frittered his farthings feasting fabulously with fair-weather friends. Finally, fleeced by those folly-filled fellows and facing famine, he found himself flinging feed in a filthy farm-lot. He fain would have filled his frame with foraged fodder fragments. "Fooey! My father's flunkies fare far fancier," the frazzled fugitive fumed.

Frustrated from failure and filled with foreboding, he fled for his family. Falling at his father's feet, he floundered forlornly. "Father, I frankly face my foolish, fruitless folly. I have flunked, and forfeit further family favors..." But the fond father, forestalling further flinching, forthwith forced his flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.

But the fugitive's fault-finding frater, faithfully and freely farming his father's fields, frowned at this fickle forgiveness of former falderol. His fury flashed, but fussing was futile. His foresighted father figured, "Such filial fidelity is fine, but what forbids fervent festivities? The fugitive is found! Unfurl the flags! Let fun, frolic and frivolity flow freely. Former folly and failures are forsaken, forgiven and forgotten."

*Taylor’s Alliterative Translation, by Rev. W. O. Taylor, quoted in More Holy Humor, Cal and Rose Samra, Thomas Nelson Publishers, ISBN 0-7852-7156-2