The Most Valuable Parrot

A man goes into a pet shop to buy a parrot.

The shop owner points to three identical looking parrots on a perch, "The parrot on the left costs $500."

"Why does the parrot cost so much?"

The owner says, "Well, the parrot knows how to use a computer."

The man then asks about the next parrot and is told it costs $1,000 because it can do everything the other parrot can do; plus, it knows how to use the UNIX operating system.

Naturally, the increasingly startled man asks about the third parrot only to be told that it costs $2,000.

Needless to say this begs the question, "What can it do?"

To which the owner replies, "To be honest, I have never seen it do a thing; but, the other two call him boss!"


Jean Nelson
Department of Education
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Thu, 08 Oct 1998