And another one....it's Story number 9!

It's what you've been waiting for....Story number 9!

As Phileaus landed in Turin, Italy, there was one thing that he was desperate to do and that is, of course, eat some brilliant Italian food. With so much choice: Pizza, ice-cream, lasagna and bolognese....Phileaus couldn't help but eat a little bit of EVERYTHING! After his feast, Phileaus didn't feel very well, not very well at all and so, on his way back to his hotel, he decided to stop on a bench to rest.  Funnily enough, a little old lady had also taken refuge on this bench and seeing the state that Phileaus was in proclaimed, 
'You cannot eat too much food, else you'll turn into the man who ate too much pizza!'
'The man who ate too much pizza?' Phileaus replied. 
'You haven't heard?' the lady asked.
'No' answered Phileaus.
'Ah well then I must tell you the story...' 
And so here it is, story number 9, told by a little old Italian lady in Turin, teaching Phileaus a lesson he will never forget.


The man who ate too much pizza.

There was once a generous young man named Mario, who loved nothing better than to gather the town for a feast every Sunday. He'd cook with sugar and spice and all things nice, creating dishes that even Kings would be proud of. His favourite dish was lasagna and he could eat tonnes of the stuff but he'd always eat it along with a nice slice of Garlic Bread. 
One especially dry summer, when the townspeople were rushing down the small cobbled streets to his house, Mario encountered a problem; he had run out of lasagna sheets! This had never happened before and it was his duty to feed the town.   
'What am I do to?' Mario proclaimed looking at his watch to check the time. 'The shops are closed and I cannot roll my own pasta sheets! I'll have to make double the amount of pizza! But I don't have enough Tomato pasata sauce.'
As he was fretting over his watch, a miracle occurred. From inside the hands of the clock, a little fairy flew out as if to answer to his worries. Now you must know that you can't say that fairies don't exist because every time this is said, then one dies! BUT very few of us get to encounter fairies in our lives and Mario certainly had never seen a fairy before and so was alarmed by her presence.
'You, you, you look like a fairy. But fairies don't...'stuttered Mario.
'Don't say it, I'm here aren't I? I've come to help you bake some pizza, I was ever so sad to hear that you had run out of lasagna sheets. But not to worry, with this special pasata sauce, you're pizzas will be the best yet...but you must promise me, you must, must promise me that you will share them, because this sauce tastes so good, that you might become greedy and eat it all yourself.' The fairy squeaked. 
'Of course I won't!' Said Mario, 'I've been generous for years, I've held a feast at my house every Sunday for as long as I can remember...just watch me.'
'Okay then' sang the fairy, producing before Mario's eyes a large sizzling pot of tomato pasata sauce.
'BUT you must promise me that you will share it, or else something terrible will happen to you, something you cannot reverse...'
'I PROMISE' shouted Mario.  And with that the fairy disappeared, leaving Mario with a large pot of sauce.
Baffled by what had just happened, Mario started to spread the pasata onto the pizza bases. The smell of the tomato was the freshest yet and he couldn't help but dip the end of his finger in to take a bite.  
'MMMMMMMMMMM' shouted Mario, 'It's delicious!' and he continued to spread the tomato on 30 pizza bases.

Twenty minutes later, when the pizzas had been cooked, Mario couldn't help but cut himself a slice.
'The guests aren't here yet and anyway, there's 30 pizzas here for them, one slice won't hurt.' 
But as Mario ate the slice, he couldn't help but eat another.  The cheese was so gooey and hot and the tomato so juicy.  Slice after slice after slice went down Mario, without a sole even uttering a word.  Soon Mario found himself eating the pizza and dancing around his kitchen. 
'You can't stop me Fairy!' he shouted. 'This is so delicious, I'm going to eat the lot, I can always bake some more!' 
But what Mario had forgotten in his greed was that the tomato pasata had all been used and the fairy had warned him of the consequences.
Then there was one slice left.  Starring at the clock and seeing that the guests would arrive in less than 5 minutes, Mario picked it up and started to eat it. He had eaten almost 30 pizzas and  still he could eat more. One gulp, two gulps, three gulps and the pizza went down.
Then Mario remembered what the fairy had said. He starred at himself in the mirror.  Nothing happened. He felt his stomach. He wasn't even full.  Then he went to spread pasata on some more pizza bases for his guests and as he looked in the pot he could see that there was no tomato left! 
'Well, nothing is happening to me, the fairy lied! And anyway, I don't believe in...'
And on that the fairy appeared again.
'I told you, I told you and you promised, promised that you wouldn't eat all of the sauce! You have lied and now I cannot stop what will happen!' the fairy proclaimed and with a swish of her wand, turned Mario into a plastic statue.
And as the townspeople arrived, they were greeted by a statue, a statue of a plastic Italian chef with a rather full belly, holding a plate of plastic pizza. And forever more, Mario will greet his guests outside restaurants, bakers and butchers. And if you go to Italy and see a plastic statue outside a restaurant, it might just be Mario.


Of course, if you eat too much pizza, you probably won't be turned into a plastic statue but you can never be too sure...and certainly Phileaus isn't taking any risks now.