It was a very happy funeral,a great success.Even the sun shone that day for the late Henry Ground.Lying in his coffin, he was probably enjoying himself,too. Once more,and for the last time on this earth ,he was the center of attention .Yes, it was a very jolly affair.People laughed and told each other jokes. Relatives who had not spoken for years smiled at each other and promised to stay in touch .And ,of course, everyone had a favourite story to tell about Henry .

“Do you remember the time he dressed up as a gypsy and went from door to door tolling people’s fortunes? He actually made 6 pounds in an afternoon!’’

“I was once having dinner  with him in an expensive restaurant,When the wine-waiter brought the wine,he poured a drop into Henry’s glass and waited with a proud expression on his face,as if to say’Taste it, you peasant.It’s clear that you know nothing about wine.’So Henry, instead of tasting it, the way any normal person would do, dipped his thumb and forefinger into the wine.Then he put his hand to his ear and rocked his forefinger and thumb together as if he were listening to the quality of the wine!Then he nodded to the wine-waiter seriously, as if to say’Yes, that’s fine. You may serve it.’ You should have seen the wine-waiter’s face!and how Henry managed to keep a straight face ,I’ll never know!”

“Kid you hear about the practical joke he played when he was a  student , the one with the road-menders?Some  workmen were digging a hole in the road .First, Henry phoned the police and told them that some students were digging a hole in the road, and that he didn’t  think it was a very funny thing to do .Then he went to the workmen and told them that some students had dressed up as policemen and were coming to tell them to stop digging the hole!Well,you can imagine what happened!”

“Yes ,old Henry loved to pull people’s legs. Once, when he was invited to an exhibition of some abstract modern painter’s latest work, he managed somehow to get in the day before and turn all the paintings upside down. The exhibition ran for four days before anyone noticed!”

“His father, poor man, could never understand why Henry did such crazy things.”

“It’s hard to believe that Henry was a Ground  when you think how different he was from his brothers.”

Yes ,it was difficult to believe that he was a Ground. He was born into an unimportant but well-to-do family.He was the youngest of five sons.The Grounds were a handsome lot :blue-eyed, fair-haired ,clever and ambitious.The for older boys all made a success of their lives. They married beautiful girls of good  family and produced children as fair and handsome and clever as themselves.The eldest became a clergyman;the second ended up as the headmaster of a famous public school;the third went into business and became rich;the fourth followed in his father’s sootsteps and became a lawyer .That is why everybody was amazed when the youngest Ground, Henry, turned out to be a lazy good-for-nothing.

Unlike his brothers , he had brown  eyes  and  dark hair, but he was every bit as handsome and charming ,which made him quite a lady-killer .And, although he never married, there is no doubt at all that Henry Ground loved women. He also loved eating,drinking,laughing,talking and a thousand other activities which don’t make money or improve the human life.One of his favorite pastimes was doing nothing.His idea of an energetic afternoon when the sun was shining was to sit under a tree, with a pretty girl by his side,and all the time in the world to talk of this and that, to count the blades of grass.

What a worthless fellow!Some people whispered that his real father was not the present Mr.Ground at all,but a wild gypsy who had come one day to the house and had swept Mrs.Ground off her feet with his dancing black eyes and his wicked immoral ways.It was a good story, inreresting and romantic,but surely untrue. One thing was sure:you couldn't help liking Henry ground and his talent for making you laugh .Henry Ground was ,above all else ,a joker.

Anyway,the stories went on even while the coffin was being lowered into the grave.People held hadkerchiefs to their eyes,but their tears were tears of laughter, not sadness.Afterwards ,there was a funeral breakfast, by invitation only.It was attended by twelve of Henry's closest friends .Henry Ground had asked his brother, Colin, to read out his  will.Henry had been in debt all his life, hadn't he?What could he possibly have to leave in a will?

Colin cleared his throat, "Ahem!If you are ready, ladies and gentlemen."Everyone settled down and waited silently.Colin opened the will,and gegan to read it out in a singsong voice.

"I, Henry Ground,being of sound mind .....last will and testament.....do hereby bequeath..."

The legal phrases came out slowly one after another, and the audience grew impatient to get to the improtant part. It came soon enough.When Colin announced that Henry Ground, though known ad a  good-for-nothing,had invested his money very wisely, and was in act worth at least three-guarters of a million, everyone gasped .But who was going to get it ?Eyes narroeed and throats went dry.

"You are all such dear friends of mine,"Colin went on reading out Henry Ground's words in a flat tone, which , if they weren't so interested, would have sent everyone to sleep,"that I cannot decide which of you to leave my money to ."Colin paused .In the silence, you could have heard a pin drop.He went on ,"so,dear friends, I have set you a little competition.Each of you in turn must tell the funniest joke he or she can think of ,and the one who gets the most laughter will get all my money. Colin will be the judge of the best joke."

"so ,ladies and gentlemen,"said Colin ,putting the will down on the tablw, "it's up to you now.Who will go first?May I suggest that you go in alphabetical order of surnames?"

The first person stood up and told a very funny joke about an Englishman who fell in lave with his umbrella.When he finished , he was in tears of laughter, for he always laughed at his own jokes. The rest of the group remained dead silent. You could tell from their faces and their eyes that they found the joke funny,but not one of them was going to laugh, and give him the chance to win the competition.The second told a story about a three-legged pig,which was so good that ,some years later,a film company made a cartoon of it.When she sat down, the others buried their faces in their handkerchiefs,coughed,pretended to sneeze, dropped pencils under the table-anything to cover up their laughter.And so it went on ,joke after joke, the sort of jokes that make your sides ache.And nobody dared to laugh.

well ,by the time the last joke had been told,every one of the twelve was sitting perfectly still, desperately holding in the laughter which was  bursting to get out.

Silence .Painful silence.

Suddenly,Colin sneezed .A perfectly ordinary sneeze.Then he took out a large red handkerchief and blew his nose .Bbbrrrrrppp.

That was enough.Someone burst out laughing,unablw to hold it in any longer.That started the others off .In no time everyone was doubled up,tears streaming from their eyes, their shoulders rising and falling as wave after wave of laughter swept the crowd.Of course, they were not just laughing at the sneeze ,nor even at the twelve jokes. No ,they were laughing at themselves as they realezed that Henry Ground had led them into his last,and the funniest,practical joke, setting their need to laugh against their desire for money.

When ,at long last ,the laughter died down,Colin cleared his throat once more ."I have been practising that sneeze for a week or more."he said."Henry's idea ,of course."he added,unnecessarily:all twelve guests realized they had been set up beautifully.

"My friends,"the last paragraph of the well begin,"forgive em ,but I couldn't resist playing one last little joke on you .It's good to know that your love of laughter finally overcame your love of money."

Colin paused , letting the meaning of the words sink in .Then he read out the final part of the late Henry Gorund 's last well and testament.

"My friends, thank you for letting me have the last laugher.As for the money,because I love you all,my fortune will be divided equally among you.Enjoy your share,and think of me whenever you hear laughter."

The group fell silent.For the first time that day ,there was a feeling of sadness in the air.