Once up on a time, there were two friends. The one was clever, the other was stupid.

The stupid man's wife was clever. The clever man's wife was stupid.

While they were chatting, the clever man said, "Your wife is clever, but you are stupid. My wife is also stupid, so she might be more compatible with you."

The stupid man asked, "Between me and you, who is stupider?" Then he said, "I am as clever as you are."

"If so, let's go to a judge and I will ask you a question," replied the clever man. They agreed to go.

In front of the judge, the clever man asked, "How many stars are there in the sky? Where is the centre of the world? Answer both questions, or we will swap our wives."

The judge allowed some time for the stupid man to return with the answers.

One night, the stupid man was counting the stars, sitting on the roof of his house.

"What are you doing?" his wife asked him.

He replied, "My friend asked me how many stars there are in the sky, and where the centre of the earth is. Now I'm counting the stars."

"Don't worry, I will tell you the answers," said his wife.

She gave her husband a sack of grain, and said, "If they ask you how many stars are in the sky, tell them it is the same as the number of grains in the sack."

Then she gave him a stick and said, "If they ask you where the centre of the world is, push the stick into the ground and tell them it is in the centre. If they complain, tell them to measure it."

The stupid man arrived with his wife's advice.

First he answered, "The number of stars is the same as the number of grains in this sack."

Then he pushed the stick into the ground and said, "This is the centre of the earth."

The judge was amused and asked, "Who told you this?" The stupid man replied, "My wife."

The judge continued, "Your wife is very clever, so she should be with a clever man. You will swap your wives."

The judge set an appointment to swap their wives.

The stupid man told his wife, "I won, but the judge said that you are clever, and don't deserve to be with me."

His wife replied, "Don't worry I have a solution to this too."

The time came for the judge to swap the wives. The clever wife gave the judge a saucepan of food as a gift.

When the judge opened the saucepan, he saw a roasted chicken still with all its feathers! Shocked, he muttered, "Oh, I see, so she belongs with her stupid husband afterall!"