A Time For Goats To Be Had

A friend asked what I thought of the U.S. housing market, whether an end to the crisis was in sight.

Returning from the hunt, the Iranian king runs into a peasant.

‘Where from, peasant?’ the king inquires.

‘From the bazaar, Your Majesty. Had a house, sold it for a goat.’

‘You damn fool,’ the kind explodes. ‘You sold a house for a goat?’

‘I worry not,’ says the peasant. ‘If the reign of His Majesty continues, next year I will buy it back for a chicken.’