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Moral Moments

Pons Asinorum

by Joel Marks

Three travelers in rural France seek lodging for the night. They come upon a pension that charges 10 euros per person. It turns out that there is only one room available, but they don’t mind sharing; so they pay the clerk 30 euros. When the proprietor returns, however, she decides that the guests should be given a discount for having to bunch up, so she summons the bellhop and hands him 5 euros to refund to them. Not being a completely honest fellow, the bellhop pockets two euros; this conveniently leaves one euro to be returned to each guest.

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