Twenty better than ten. A numskull is asked how many daily prayers (Moslem) there are. "Twenty." – "There are only four." – "I said that there are twenty; that is even better."

Motif

Twenty better than ten. A numskull is asked how many daily prayers (Moslem) there are. "Twenty." – "There are only four." – "I said that there are twenty; that is even better."

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd lack of logic. · Logical absurdity based upon certain false assumptions. · view the constellation · filed as J2213.5

Cited in the index

general *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 261 No. 222.

Within the index

Filed under Illogical use of numbers.

1 finer motif beneath it

More than twenty commandments. Numskull asked the number of commandments replies that there are twenty. He explains to another that he knows there must be more than twenty because the minister would not accept his answer

Filed beside it

Each of two persons wants to sleep in the middle. (Sometimes solved by placing an object on one side of the bed.) A profitable fight: three for one! A priest boasts of his profitable fight with the peasants, where he has received three blows for every one given The seventh cake satisfies. Fool regrets that he had not eaten number seven first since that was the one that brought satisfaction If the horse can pull one load he can pull two Selling his half of the house. A man owns half a house. He wants to sell his half so as to get money to buy the other half and thus have a whole house Dentist duped to pull out two teeth for one because of the expensiveness Man prefers small oysters, since he will get more to the hundred Numskull finds that one feather makes a hard pillow, thinks a sackful would be unbearable

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