There were two people travelling on a train, an American scientist and a
Polish 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 buisness, 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. Looking down at the Polak's suitcase the
scientist saw what he thought to be a Polish name. 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 irratibly 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 deciced against it, seeing
that the scientist was obviously a very bright man, and most likely an
American. 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, "what
is 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.