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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 2128270" data-attributes="member: 812">My grandfather told me this one:Your great-uncle Sherman was an explorer. One time, he was travelling in the South Seas when he encountered an island ruled by a throne-happy king. This king would send out raiding parties to the nearby islands to steal THEIR kings' thrones and bring them back for him to gloat over.Pretty soon, of course, the king had more thrones than he could fit in his grass hut, even if it was the biggest such house on the island. So the king summouns his royal architect, and commands the lady (for such she was) to design for him a house capable of holding more thrones.The royal architect mulled and pondered, and eventually had the great idea of building a SECOND STORY on the king's grass hut, thus doubling his storage capacity. The king was delighted, and the second floor was built, and the throne-raiding continued.Well, before long, the king's raids had garnered enough thrones to fill the second floor, so the king prevailed upon the royal architect to design a third floor."Your Highness," said the architect, "I only wish to serve, but it's just not possible. Palm fronds and grasses will never supply sufficient structural integrity to support a third floor. It's unsafe.""Nonsense!" insisted the king, who went ahead and had the third story built anyway.The royal architect at this point divested herself of all holdings in the tribe's name, and found herself employment at a noodle shop in Macao.The king decided that to inaugurate his (rather shaky, to tell the truth) third floor, he needed a truly impressive throne, so he led his warriors on a long journey to lands they'd never dreamed of, where they found an immense throne covered in gold and jewels. After struggling with and eventually defeating a massive army or fanatical defenders, the king and his triumphant warriors hoisted the throne into their largest canoe and paddled back joyously.Upon their return, they carried the immense throne into the king's house, past the first floor and its overflowing storerooms rammed with smaller, less impressive thrones, and up and through the second floor, likewise chock-a-block with inferior throneishness, and up to the empty third floor. The house swayed and shook ominously, but the jubilant king paid no attention as he directed his men to set the massive object down.He had one second of admiring his newest possession before it plunged through the floor, taking the entire hut down around it, killing the king and all his followers.When Great-Uncle Sherman heard this story from the former royal architect, he asked her what she thought of the king's actions.The noodle chef shrugged and said, "People who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones."</blockquote>

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