Kjell Magne Bondevik goes to Washington for a meeting with Bill Clinton.
After dinner, Bill says to Kjell ” Well Kjell, I don’t know what you think of
the members of your Cabinet, but mine are all bright and brilliant.”
“How do you know?” asks Kjell Magne.
“Oh well, it’s simple”, says Bill. “They all have to take special tests before
they can be a minister. Wait a second”. He calls Madeleine Albright over and
says to her “Tell me Madeleine, who is the child of your father and of your
mother who is not your brother and is not your sister?”
Ah, that’s simple Mr. President”, says Madeleine, “it is me!”
“Well done Madeleine,” says Clinton and Kjell Magne Bondevik are very
impressed.
Kjell Magne Bondevik returns to Oslo and wonders about the
intelligence of the members of his Cabinet. He calls in Lars Sponheim and says:
“Lars, tell me, who is the child of your father and of your mother who is not
your brother and is not your sister?”
Lars thinks and thinks and doesn’t know the answer. “Can I think about it a
bit further Kjell ? May I let you know tomorrow?”
“Of course,” says Bondevik, “you’ve got 24 hours.”
Lars Sponheim goes away, thinks as hard as he can, calls in his team, but
no-one knows the answer. 20 hours later, Lars is very worried – still no answer
and only 4 hours to go. Eventually Lars Sponheim says “I’ll ask Gudmund Restad,
he’s clever, he’ll know the answer.” He calls Restad.
“Gudmund,” he says, “tell me who is the child of your father and of your
mother who is not your brother and is not your sister?”
“Very simple”, says Gudmund, “it’s me!”
“Of course” says Lars and calls Kjell Magne Bondevik.
“Kjell Magne”, says Lars, “I’ve got the answer: it’s Gudmund Restad”.
“No you idiot”, says Bondevik, “it’s Madeleine Albright”.