Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Florida, USA,
June 13, 2001 (Originally in English)

Once upon a time in the forest, there was a very bad drought. And all the animals were dying because of a big famine. So the lion king gathered all the animals together to find a solution, to save the lives of his subjects. And then some animals suggested that since the time was very bad and the situation was so grave, they would have to eat each other to survive. But they also didn't want to eat each other so much, so they made a competition. Every one of them had to tell a joke. The joke had to be very funny, and everyone had to laugh. If it happened to be not funny enough so that even one of the animals in the assembly didn't laugh, then that animal had to be eaten. They had to eat each other to survive, because there was no food.

So the elephant came out and told a joke. And it was very funny! Everyone was rolling on the floor, laughing until they had stomach pains. But just one animal didn't laugh: the turtle. Ah! So everyone felt sorry, because the joke was really funny. But rules are rules. The turtle didn't laugh, so they went ahead and ate the elephant. And then they continued with another animal, the giraffe. He also told a very funny joke. Everyone laughed except the turtle; the turtle didn't laugh. Okay, rules are rules. So they ate the giraffe. And so on, and so on. After a while, almost all the animals had been eaten. Only a few were left when it came to the turn of the monkey to tell a joke, and he was very scared. He was nervous; he was trembling. He looked at the turtle and dared not open his mouth. But suddenly the turtle started laughing. "Ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha! Ah ha ha! That was funny! The joke the elephant told was so funny!"