An old Jewish man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his potato garden but it was tough work as the ground was hard. His only son, Saul, who used to help him, was in prison for Insider Trading and Stock Fraud.
The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Solly,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love, Papa
A few days later the old man received a letter from his son:
Dear Papa: For heaven's sake Dad, don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the money & stocks.
Love, Solly
At 4:00 am the next morning, a team of FBI agents and local police arrived at the old man's house and dug up the entire garden area without finding any money or stocks. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day, the old man received another letter from his son:
Dear Papa: Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love, Your son,
Solly
:)
Hmm. I heard this story years ago. But the main characters were Palestinians.
I suspect that there's a Romans and Carthaginians version of this story waiting to be discovered.
I heard the same story, only they were generic Arabs. It actually makes more sense that way, because why would the FBI be reading the mail of some old Jewish guy? If they suspect the son is terrorist it makes more sense.
Uh, the FBI wasn't reading the old man's mail. They were reading the correspondence of an inmate in a federal prison... Stock fraud? Insider trading?
I think I once saw a Soviet era version of the joke involving a gulag inmate and the KGB.