The Bowling Showdown

Once upon a time, there were five brothers, all alike in stature and skill—skill at bowling. These five brothers were renowned for their strikes, but no bowler was as accurate as Arjuna, who could thread the ball into the one-three pocket and guarantee a strike whenever he stepped up to the lane. Arjuna was so good that, after a while, his fame spread so that everyone in the land thought he was unbeatable.

One day, when the five brothers were displaying their skill on the lanes against their cousins—all one hundred of them—a mystery challenger approached, claiming that his skill throwing and spinning a bowling ball exceeded that of Arjuna. This man's name was Karna, and upon his challenge, Arjuna agreed to go frame for frame against this mystery man.

The two bowlers battled furiously, each of their bowling balls hooking into strike after strike. While Arjuna threw to hit the normal strike pocket for a right-hander, between the 1 and 3 pins, Karna threw into the Brooklyn pocket, the 1-2 pocket, and still the pins all fell each time he hooked his ball down the lane. Karna was able to match Arjuna strike for strike, equalling Arjuna exactly, never exceeding him but never falling below his level. (Though, in fairness, it is impossible to exceed a strike in each frame.) Sometimes, the spinning bowling ball wold teeter on the edge of the gutter as it sped down the lane, but each time an inhuman force seemed to grip the ball at the last second and whip it into the pins with unrivaled ferocity, sending the pins ricocheting into each other, every pin lying on its side after the expert's throw.

The night wore on, and after a while, neither man prevailed, so they retired, vowing to match skill again at a later time.

A long time later, years and years after their first meeting, Arjuna and Karna met in the World Championships of Bowling. This time, Karna intended to win, and he sacrificed his honor as a bowler to do so. Secretly, Karna made the boards in front of the lane very slippery. When Arjuna commenced his four-step approach to the lane, he bent down to deliver his deadly accurate hook throw and instead of rifling the ball down the lane, Arjuna sprawled onto the floor and left his ball rolling down the gutter.