The Old Monk

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the
other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices,
however,
that they are copying copies, and not the original books.
So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He
points out that if there was an error in the first copy, that
error would be continued in all of the other copies.


The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for
centuries, but you make a good point, my son."


So, the head monk goes down into the cellar with one of the
copies to check it against the original. Hours later, nobody has
seen him. So, one of the other monks goes downstairs to look for
him. He hears sobbing coming from the back of the cellar and
finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books crying.


"What's wrong?" he asks.


"The word is celebrate" sobs the old monk.