"No," said the man, wrapping his legs around and around each other, "no; if that were the case every day would be a fast day, because it's always fly time in this desert."
"You seem unhappy. Cheer up!"
"I can't cheer up. How is a fellow to cheer when he can't speak above a whisper?"
"I mean laugh," said Billy.
"Laugh," said the man wearily, "what's that?"
"Don't you know what a laugh is?" cried Billy, in surprise. "Why, this is a laugh: ha-ha-ha!"
"I don't see any sense in that," said the Hermit; "that's just a noise."
"Of course it's a noise. Come, now, I'll tell you a joke: When is a door not a door?" Of course it was very, very old, but so was the Hermit, and Billy wanted to start with the simplest joke he could think of.
"Quite impossible."
"No; when it's a-jar. Isn't that a good one?" said Billy. "Ha-ha-ha!"