How different things could have been…
Do you know what would have happened if it had been Three Wise
Women instead of Three Wise Men?
They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole and brought practical gifts!
I love this joke – I think that they would also have given the inn keeper a good old fashioned bollocking for putting a woman in active labour into a barn to give birth. They’d have also sent the shepherds back to the hills (after a warming cup of tea of curse) and would have served hot buttery toast all round. AND still have produced a complete, 4 course, Christmas dinner the next day (after which the inn keeper would have wondered where one of his pigs, a lamb and 2 chickens had gone …)
Hohohohoho, Fren! Images of the poor inn keeper had me laughing…
It’s always something to wonder how differently anything would be if it had been a woman instead of a man. Especially so in this case. Normally, I don’t like jokes like this since it can send a message of gender roles, but it wasn’t one in bad taste. Also, I’m not a stick in the mud and I can tell when something’s funny.
I’m glad you got a laugh from it, sorrowscal. I agree that gender based jokes can continue those barriers and misconceptions, but this one did make me laugh, too!