A
man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery....
He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says,
"My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The
monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car. As the man tries to fall
asleep, he hears a strange sound; a sound like no other that he has ever heard. The next morning, he
asks the monks what the sound was, but they say,
"We can't tell you because you're not a monk."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way.
Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery.
The
monks again accept him, feed him, and even fix his car..
That
night, he hears the same strange mesmerizing sound that he had heard years
earlier. The next morning, he
asks what the sound was, but the monks reply,
"We
can't tell you because you're not a monk."
The
man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know.
If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do
I become a monk?"
The
monks reply,
"You must travel the Earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are
and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will
become a monk."
The
man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on
the door of the monastery.
He says, "I have travelled the Earth and devoted my life to the task
demanded and have found what you had asked for. There are 371,145,236,284,232
blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.
The
monks reply,
"Congratulations, you are correct, and you are now considered a monk.
We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, the sound is
behind that door.
The
man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked.
He asks, "May I have the key?"
The
monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone....
The man requests the key to the stone
door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby..
He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is
another door, this one made of sapphire. And so itwent on until the man
had gone through doors of emerald,.....
....silver, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks
say, "This is the key to the last door."
The
man is relieved to be at the end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and
behind that door he is astonished to find the source of that strange sound.
It is truly an amazing and unbelievable sight ...........
......
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
(P.S. DON'T
SWEAR AT ME:
I'M
STILL HUNTING FOR THE BASTARD WHO STARTED THIS! -Ed.)
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