We are often times too serious in our correspondence on these pages, so in an effort to inject a little humor into our lives I’m going to try and lighten the mood with a pun.

Now, a brief history of puns — they have often been referred to as “Shaggy Dog Stories”. The reason for that is that this is supposedly the first pun and it goes as follows:

There was a knight in England headed for the crusades and it was a terrible stormy night. Just as the knight approached an old farm house, his horse faltered and died. The knight went up to the farm, knocked on the door and requested to spend the night.

The farmer was more than happy to grant his request. When the knight entered he noticed the farmer had this huge, shaggy dog resting in the corner. After a little thought he said to the farmer, “Your dog is so large I believe I could continue my journey if you would let me use your dog to ride upon.”

The farmer replied, “Oh no sire, I wouldn’t put a knight out on a dog like this.”

Ba dump bum! Now, if you didn’t groan just a little, I missed the mark.

Another thing about puns is that many people think they are the lowest form of humor. I think they say that because they just can’t remember them. I only have a few favorites in my repertoire so if you have a personal favorite please feel free to email it to me (larysuzi@q.com) and I will send it to the paper, with proper credit to you for passing it along.

Thanks in advance. Keep Smilin’.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw