Once there lived a man who said to his friends that he could stay in the open all night without a fire to warm him.
“Well, do it,” his friends said to him, “but if you find you can’t do it after all, you must give us all a fine dinner.”
So one cold night he went outdoors and began his long wait.Several hours passed, and the cold became too much for him. Seeing a light at the end of the street the man walked to it and found a candle in the window of a house. He warmed his hands as well as he could by the candle light, and in the morning he returned to his friends. He had to tell them about the candle.
“Ah,” they said,” but a candle gives off heat.” And they asked for the dinner.
The night of the dinner came. The man went into the kitchen to cook the dinner and his friends waited. Several hours passed, but there was still no food.
“Why is he taking so long?” said one of the hungry friends. “Let us go and see.”
They went into the kitchen and saw a large cooking pot over one candle. They protested to their host, “What do you mean by cooking on a candle? The dinner will never be ready.” “Well,” the man said. “ Didn't you say that a candle gives off heat?”
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