A man, reading a book by candle-light, came across a sentence which stated that men with long beards were fools.<>
This distressed the man because he had a long beard himself.<>
He had always thought the beard made him look scholarly and dignified, but now he began to wonder if perhaps he had not been labouring under a delusion.<>
He decided to do away with the beard there and then and gathering it up in his hands, held the tip to the candle flame.<>
It caught fire and burnt faster than he had expected. In a moment the beard was all gone.<>
Then a spark leapt up into the hair on his head and before he knew what was happening, the hair on his head was reduced to ash. <>His cry of alarm brought his neighbours running.<>
They were shocked to see his scorched face and the smoke curling up from his head.<>
“What happened?” they asked, dowsing him with water.<>
“Whatever was to have happened, has happened,” said the man, sadly. “I read that men with long beards were fools and I behaved like one.”<>
