Who Would You Sleep With?

A rabbi, a Hindu priest, and a hedge-fund manager were lost one night in Kansas. In the distance, they saw a light on in a farmhouse, drove up, and knocked on the door.

"Excuse us," the priest said when the farmer came to the door. "We know it's late. But we are lost and we're too tired to continue on. By any chance could we stay here for the night? We won't be any trouble, and we'll leave first thing in the morning."

"Happy to help," the farmer said. "But there's only one problem. I only have two spare bedrooms. One of you will have to sleep in the barn."

"Oh, I'm happy to stay in the barn," the priest replied immediately. "No bother at all."

They all bed down for the night, but after a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was the priest.

"You didn't tell me you had a cow in the barn," he said. "It's not exactly against my religion to sleep near a cow, but I don't quite feel comfortable."

"No problem," the rabbi jumped in. "Don't worry. I've got no problem with the cow. You take my room and I'll sleep in the barn."

And so they went to bed again, but, lo and behold, in a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was the rabbi.

"You didn't tell me you had a pig in the barn," the rabbi explained. "I'm awfully sorry, but it's like with the priest. There's no real religious issue with my sleeping with pigs, but it still makes me uncomfortable."

"Geez, Louise," the hedge-fund manager said, losing all patience. "I don't have any religious issues with the animals! I'll sleep in the barn. Come on, let's all get some sleep!"

So the priest and the rabbi went upstairs with the farmer, and everyone went to bed, confident that things had been taken care of once and for all.

But in a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. Opening it, the farmer found the cow and the pig.

(Adapted from Woody Tasch's Slow Money—Investing As If Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered, pp. 91-92)

It's a joke . . . just a joke. And a darn good one, I thought. Hedge-fund managers are definitely the target du jour.