The Noise

[mstangmom]

A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He
goes to the monastery, knocks on
the door, and says, my car broke
down. Do you think I could stay the night?

The monks graciously accept him,
feed him dinner, and even fix his car.
As the man tries to fall asleep, he
hears a strange sound; a sound like
no other that he has ever heard. The next morning, he asks the monks
what the sound was, but they say,
we can't tell you. You're not a monk.


The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his
merry way. Some years later, the
same man breaks down in front of
the same monastery.

The monks again accept him, feed
him, and even fix his car.

That night, he hears the same
strange mesmerizing sound that he
had heard years earlier.

The next morning, he asks what the sound was, but the monks reply,

We can't tell you. You're not a monk.

The man says, All right, all right. I'm dying to know.

If the only way I can find out what
that sound was, is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?

The monks reply, you must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number
of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk.

The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery.
He says, I have travelled the earth
and devoted my life to the task demanded and have found what you
had asked for. There are 371,145,236,284,232 blades of grass
and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.

The monks reply, Congratulations,
you are correct and now you are a
monk

We shall now show you the way to
the sound.

The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, the sound is behind that door.

The man reaches for the knob, but
the door is locked. He asks, may I
have the key?



The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.


Behind the wooden door is another
door made of stone. The man
requests the key to the stone door.


The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from
the monks, who provide it. Behind
that door is another door, this one
made of sapphire. And so it went
until the man had gone through doors
of emerald,...



...silver, topaz, and amethyst.


Finally, the monks say, This is the key to the last door



The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is astonished to
find the source of that strange sound.
It is truly an amazing and unbelievable sight.



. . . But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.

DONT SWEAR AT ME; I'M STILL HUNTING FOR THE IDIOT WHO SENT THIS TO ME!

[ballparent]

Aargh.....that took several seconds from my life.....and now who should I send it too?

[noreply66]

The guy next door to me is Jim Monk--I will ask him

[OZZIEOHIO]

[orange-n-brown 365]

[grndma1]

I think I will send this to my sister. You know what they say, Monk see, Monk do.