On Sunday, August 4, 2013, Ramachandran Padmanabhan wrote:
THE CHOICEAn old punster made the king the butt of most of his jokes. Consequently, he was loved by the people, but hated by the king.The king endured the ridicule for months. One day, after hearing people in the streets repeating some of their favorite quips, he had had enough. He had the following statement posted around the royal city:"By royal decree, anyone who tells a pun will be hanged by the neck until he is dead."The old punster kept telling his jokes, including puns. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged at dawn in a week's time.The king's conscience was pricked. He didn't want to execute a citizen for merely telling jokes. So the king sent a message to the hangman on the morning of the execution, telling him that the old man was to be given a pardon if he promised never to tell another pun.The old man couldn't imagine living in a world where he could not tell a pun. So he replied, "No noose is good news," and died gladly.=============
VERSION IIThe king told the Punster "Make a statement. If there is truth in it you will be hanged. If it is a lie, you will be shot dead. Make such a statement that you escape death."Punster said "I am going to be hanged," and the king had to let him go unpunished.VERSION IIIThe king said "I am going to put you in a hall with two doors marked "A" and "B." One leads to freedom and the other to gallows. There is a guard at each door. One of them always lies and the other always tell the truth. You can pose only one question to any one of them and based on his answer let me see if you can walk through the door to freedom or go to the gallows."Punster asks the guard at door "A": if I ask your friend at door "B" whether the door "A" will lead to freedom what will be his answer? YES OR NO.If the answer is "YES" he walk through door "B" and the answer is "NO" he walks through door "A" to freedom.Court Jesters are smart and brainy.
=S.V.RAMANA=
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