Odd thinks they make pretty funny jokes when he tells them, the off-handed comments about all the strange situations he was put in at home, the pranks his sisters would pull on him. Really funny, ha-ha, Odd's probably elaborating on the truth again for the astonishment of the crowd. The more incredulous the story, the more he jokes about it, the less he protests that no, this really did happen. No one would believe him, anyway.
But his parents were lax, and children could be cruel, and no one ever said a Della Robbia wouldn't take a joke too far.