It was a nice, sunny spring afternoon and a poet and a scientist were
riding together on a train. They didn't know each other, so niether
one said anything for a long time. Finally the scientist looked at the
poet and asked, "Do you want to play a game?" The poet was shy and simply
looked toward the scientist and looked away again. This annoyed the
scientist, and he repeated himself,"Do you want to play a game? I'll
ask you a question. If you don't know the answer, you give me five dollars.
Then you ask me a question. If I don't know it, then I'll give you five
dollars." The poet knew he didn't stand a chance against the scientist,
so he declined. Then the scientist said, "Okay, if I don't know the answer
to your question, I'll give you FIFTY dollars." The poet may not have had a
lot of academic knowledge, but even he couldn't pass up those odds. The
scientist then said "I'll go first. What's the exact distance between the
earth and the moon?" The poet had no idea, so he didn't even attempt an
answer and simply handed over a five dollar bill. Then the poet asked,"What
goes up a mountain on three legs and comes down on four?" The scientist
looked puzzled. He started pondering this question with no results. He
pulled out some paper and his calculator, worked out some calculations,
and finally had to admit that he didn't know the answer. Reluctantly, he
pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it to the poet. Then the train
slowed down and the poet got up to leave. The scientist yelled, "wait! You
can't leave me like this! What's the answer?!" The poet sighed and handed
over five dollars.