Possessions

A farmer ordered a dozen chickens from his livestock dealer. “I’ll be away all day,” he advised the merchant, “so just leave them on my front porch.” When he returned home that evening, the farmer found only an empty crate on his porch. It seems the crate had a faulty latch and the chickens had escaped. Immediately, the man set out on a frantic search of the countryside. The next morning, he called the dealer to complain. “Look here,” he said, “because of your negligence I spent half the night going over my farm and my neighbors’ farms looking for those lost chickens. It took me four hours to find all twelve.” After a brief silence, the dealer replied, “Twelve? You have done well, my friend. I thought you ordered half a dozen. There were only six chickens in that crate.”