There
was a man, who lived next to a university, and he saw many distinguished
students going in and out all the time, and most of them wore spectacles,
glasses. He thought, "Oh, glasses will make me able to understand."
So he went into a spectacles shop and asked for a pair of glasses.
The person in the shop asked him, " How many degrees?" And
he replied, "I want master's degree." The shopkeeper didn't
really understand, but he thought that probably he should give him
the heaviest ones. So, he gave him the heaviest degree lenses and
when the man tried them on, he nearly collapsed, because they made
him dizzy. When nothing is wrong with your eyes and you wear spectacles,
it's very terrible. The man said, "What kind of glasses are these?"
And the shopkeeper said, "Well, you wanted master's degree, didn't
you?"
So, anyhow,
after the man tried them on, he said, "OK, give me a book."
When the seller gave him a book, he read it like this, upside down.
He kept turning the book around, and said, "I cannot see it!
What kind of language is this?" The seller said, "It's English."
And the man replied, "Really? How come I cannot read it?"
So the seller said, "This way, sir," and turned the book
right side up. And he said, "Why can I still not read it? What
kind of glasses are these?" And the shopkeeper said, "These
are for reading books." Then the man said, "You must have
sold me the wrong ones, because I can't read with them." So the
seller said, "But... but could it be that you are illiterate,
and can't read books? Could it be?" The man said, "If I
were able to read books, why would I need glasses?"