Then the woman asked him, "Look up for us in your learned books whether a cat's tail is stuck in or whether it sprouts out."
The man said, "No. Look up whether it does not sprout out or whether it is stuck in."
The wise man saw that they were fools, so he replied—
"Give me my fee: one dollar for the answer to the question as to whether the cat's tail is stuck in or whether it sprouts out, and one dollar for the answer as to whether it sprouts out or is stuck in."
So they each gave him a dollar, and the wise man made great pretence at looking through his books. Finally he said, "You are both wrong; the cat's tail is neither stuck in nor does it sprout out, and it neither sprouts out nor is it stuck in, but it is just stuck on."
They then returned home in silence, and the wise man stuck to their dollars.
