“I don’t understand, Doc,” complained Benny Jackson, a man who dedicates his life to impressing women, but is yet to succeed.
“What happened this time?” Doc Jim asked as he sat down beside the troubled youth.
“You know, Samantha Wilcox. Her father owns several prize horses and has won countless racing medals with them, so Samantha won’t look at a guy twice unless he’s got a heart bigger for animals than himself. I thought I had my story down right. Will you tell me where I went wrong?”
“Sure, what’d you tell her?”
“A few years back I decided I’d take my mule, Miss Molly, out with me to go gold mining. Several months went by and I found nothing, but I kept looking. One day, I struck the mother lode. It was cold, miserable weather, and Miss Molly wasn’t feeling too good. So, instead of getting all that gold I found, I stayed with her for weeks. The poor girl was pregnant, and after a few months of waiting and nursing, she gave birth to a healthy baby. I didn’t get the gold; I just brought the two home.”
“Well, Ben, you’re just lucky; she didn’t throw you out of the window with a story like that!”
What was Benny’s mistake?
Solution
Although mules are normally sterile (although there have been several instances where they have become pregnant) yet the fact that Benny claims to have spent several months looking for the gold and then another few months nursing the mule through pregnancy is longer than the pregnancy cycle would have been. So if it could get pregnant, which is doubtful, then what made it pregnant?
