The doorbell rings. Bill opens the door. On the threshold, he sees a local vagrant.
"Hello," says the vagrant, "as usual, I was going around the garbage pits and in one of them found a wallet with $1,000 and your ID. You must have thrown it away by mistake."
"Right!" says Bill joyfully. "My wallet! Thank you so much!"
"Please check the contents." the vagrant asks.
"One thousand even!" confirms Bill, counting the bills hastily. Then he takes a $20 bill out of the pack and gives it to the vagrant, "This is from me with thanks!"
They part, being quite content with each other.
"Who was it?" Bill’s wife asks.
Bill laughs and tells his wife what happened.
Why’s it funny?
When returning the wallet, the vagrant had high hopes for gratitude.
But there was a chance that Bill wouldn’t have any broken money at hand.
In the wallet, there were only $100 bills.
Would Bill agree to pay such a large amount?
And the vagrant made a wise decision. Before returning the wallet, he had exchanged one hundred for smaller bills – 5, 10, 20, 50, deciding that thus Bill would be able to choose the amount to thank him with.
It was the vagrant’s forethought that made Bill laugh.