A teacher was helping her students with
a math problem. She recited the following story: "There are three
birds sitting on a wire. A hunter shoots one of the birds. How many
birds are left on the wire?"
A boy pauses. "None," he replied
thoughtfully.
"No, no, no, let's try again," the teacher
says patiently. She holds up three fingers. "There are three
birds sitting on a wire. A hunter shoots one," she puts down one finger,
"how many birds are left on the wire?"
"None!" the boy says with authority.
The teacher sighs. "Tell me how you
came up with that."
"It's simple," says the boy, "after the
gunman shot one bird,
he scared the other two away." "Well,"
she says, "it's not technically correct, but I like the way you think."
"Okay," chimes the boy, "now let me ask
you a question. There are three women sitting on a bench eating popsicles.
One woman is licking the popsicle, one woman is biting the popsicle, and
one is sucking the popsicle. Which one is married?" he asked.
The teacher looked at the boy's angelic
face and she writhed in agony, turning three shades of red. "C'mon,"
the boy said impatiently, "One is licking the popsicle, one is biting and
one is sucking. Which one is married?"
"Well," she gulped and in a barely audible
whisper replied, "the one who's sucking?"
"No," he says with surprise, "the one with
the wedding ring on. But I like the way you think!"
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