The Consultant

A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of the dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Broni suit, leaned out the window and asked the shepherd, “If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?”

The shepherd looked at the driver, then looked at his peacefully-grazing flock and calmly answered, “Sure.”

The driver parked his car, whipped out his laptop, and connected it to a cell phone and called up a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, and then opened up a database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas.

Finally, he prints out a 130 page report on his miniaturized printer then turns to the shepherd and says, “You have exactly 1586 sheep.”

“That is correct; take one of the sheep,” said the shepherd. He watches the young man select one of the animals and bundle it into his car.

Then the shepherd says: “If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?”

“OK, why not” answered the young man.

“Clearly, you are a consultant” said the shepherd.

“That’s correct” said the young man, “but how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required” answers the shepherd.

“You turned up here although nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked, and you don’t know anything about my business…. Now give me back my dog.”