"Michel Boucher" > wrote in message
...
> "Felice" > wrote in -
> september.org:
>
>>> A swallow can't carry a coconut!
>>
>> Well, maybe not ONE swallow ...
>
> Beg to differ:

Interrupting here to say "Thank you from a longtime Python fan!" I have
(and, on occasion, wear) their "I'm Not Dead Yet" button, which my
granddaughter bought for me when we went to see the show in Boston a while
back.

And now back to our regular programming:

> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Who goes there?
> King Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of
> Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all
> England!
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Pull the other one!
> King Arthur: I am, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden
> the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me
> in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? Ridden on a horse?
> King Arthur: Yes!
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You're using coconuts!
> King Arthur: What?
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: You've got two empty halves of
> coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
> King Arthur: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this
> land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through...
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Where'd you get the coconuts?
> King Arthur: We found them.
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Found them? In Mercia? The
> coconut's tropical!
> King Arthur: What do you mean?
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Well, this is a temperate zone
> King Arthur: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin
> or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not
> strangers to our land?
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Are you suggesting coconuts
> migrate?
> King Arthur: Not at all. They could be carried.
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: What? A swallow carrying a
> coconut?
> King Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: It's not a question of where
> he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird
> could not carry a one pound coconut.
> King Arthur: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master
> that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Listen. In order to maintain
> air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times
> every second, right?
> King Arthur: Please!
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Am I right?
> King Arthur: I'm not interested!
> Second Swallow-Savvy Guard: It could be carried by an African swallow.
> King Arthur: Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court at
> Camelot?
> 1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Oh yeah, an African swallow,
> maybe, but not a European swallow. That's my point.
> Second Swallow-Savvy Guard: But then the African swallow's not
> migratory...

Felice