The Grand Shan of Tartary

In all the world no man was more blessed than Khu, the Grand Shan of Tartary - nor more cursed.

None exceeded him in power or riches, the breadth of his domain, the virtues of his wife, and the vices of his concubines. Such were his blessings, but heed ye his curse.

For Khu, the Grand Shan, suffered from epilepsy, which men call the "falling sickness" - an affliction of sudden seizures, of convulsions occurring without warning.

Like many great rulers, the Shan had enemies. And it remained for one, whose name was Ling-Po, to discover the cause of his curse. The Shan, a learned and intelligent man, was unusually sensitive to crude japes and mindless jests. It was on occasions when he was exposed to such idiocies - most notably in the form of puns - that he became enraged, and thus responsive to his seizures.

Knowing this, Ling-Po devised what is called, in the heathen lands of the West, a "shaggy dog" story - a witless and revolting piece of nonsense designed to lead the unsuspecting reader to a "punchline" in the form of a truly disgusting pun. This particular story might well sicken any reader - and in the case of someone susceptible to epileptic seizures, it might even bring about his death.

Ling-Po inscribed his work on a scroll of parchment inserted in a golden tube, and personally presented it to the Shan as a birthday gift from an anonymous admirer.

Presently it came to pass that the Shan unrolled the scroll. Ling-Po waited, his heart pounding in uncertainty as the Shan began to read. Would the Shan indeed experience an epileptic seizure when he came upon the filthy pun at the end?

The reading concluded, and for a moment Ling-Po waited, wondering if he had failed.

But he need not have worried, once the pun was read. For it was then that the fit hit the Shan.