[1301] in Humor
HUMOR: $5
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew A. Bennett)
Wed Feb 14 10:30:34 1996
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:14:37 EST
From: "Andrew A. Bennett" <abennett@MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 00:49:25 -0800
From: connie@interserve.com (Connie Kleinjans)
From: fiachna@netcom.com (K'Ailsa Rowan)
There were once two people travelling on a train, a scientist and a
poet, who were riding in the same compartment. They had never met before,
so naturally, there wasn't much conversation between the two.
The poet was minding his own business, looking out the window at
the beauty of the passing terrain.
The scientist was very uptight, trying to think of things he didn't
know so he could try to figure them out. Finally, the scientist was so
bored, that he said to the poet, "Hey, do you want to play a game?"
The poet, being content with what he was doing, ignored him and
continued looking out the window, humming quietly to himself. This
infuriated the scientist, who irritably asked again, "Hey, you, do you want
to play a game? I'll ask you a question, and if you get it wrong, you give
me $5. Then, YOU ask ME a question, and if I can't answer it, I'll give
YOU $5."
The poet thought about this for a moment, but he decided against it
seeing that the scientist was obviously a very bright man. He politely
turned down the scientist's offer.
The scientist, who, by this time was going mad, tried a final time.
"Look, I'll ask you a question, and if you can't answer it, you give me $5.
Them you ask ME a question, and if I can't answer it, I'll give you $50!"
Now, the poet was not that smart academically, but he wasn't
totally stupid. He readily accepted the offer. "Okay," the scientist
said, "whatis the EXACT distance between the Earth and the Moon?"
The poet, obviously not knowing the answer, didn't stop to think
about the scientist's question. He took a $5 bill out of his pocket and
handed it to the scientist. The scientist happily accepted the bill and
promptly said, "Okay, now it's your turn."
The poet thought about this for a few minutes, then asked, "Alright
what goes up a mountain on three legs, but comes down on four?"
The bright glow quickly vanished from the scientist's face. He
thought about this for a long time, taking out his notepad and making
numerous calculations. He finally gave up on his notepad and took out his
laptop, using his Multimedia Encyclopedia.
After about an hour of this, the poet quietly watching the
mountains of Colorado go by the whole time, the scientist FINALLY gave up. He
reluctantly handed the poet a $50 bill. The poet accepted it graciously,
turning back to the window.
"Wait!" the scientist shouted. "You can't do this to me! What's
the answer??"
The poet looked at the scientist and calmly put a $5 bill into the
his hand.
