A traveler was walking through the mountains when he came across a great monastery, he was far from a town and so knocked on it's doors seeking shelter.
A monk came out and greeted him and the traveler asked for a place to stay for the night.
"Certainly" replied the monk "But first, we would like you to join us for our evening meal"
So the traveler sat down in the dining hall with all the other monks and ate their humble meal with them. But as soon as they were done one of the monks stood up and said "Fifteen", at this all the other monks had a small chuckle. Then another monk stood up and said "Twenty Three" and again there was a small laugh among the monks.
Confused, the traveler asked the monk next to him "What's going on? Why are you laughing at numbers". The monk replied "Well, we don't get many new jokes here and we've all heard them all, so to save time we just numbered them all and then we remember the joke when the number is said".
Intrigued, the traveler asked if he could have a go and the monk agreed. And so the traveler stood up and said "Erm... Two Hundred and Sixty Seven"... Dead Silence. Every head turned towards the traveler, and lingered for a moment. Then the lead monk began to laugh a little bit, and then another monk and another and before long the whole room was in an uproar of laughter that lasted for 5 minutes straight.
The man asked the monk next to him "What's so funny?"
The monk replied in between laughs "They hadn't heard that one before"
23-Sep-2018 23:28:30