A very wealthy man asked his father how much it cost to raise him. At first the father did not bother to give him an answer as he did not think the son was serious. But over ensuing time the son became very insistent that his father let him know how much it cost to raise him. When asked why he wanted to know, the son said that he did not want to be bothered or have anything to do with a matter after he had paid off a debt.
So one day the father was sitting outside the very luxurious home of his son and his son repeated the question. After thinking for a while and giving it very careful consideration the father asked the son, “What's that?”
The son replied, “That's a bicycle.”
The father repeated, “What's that?”
The son again said, “That's a bicycle, can't you see?”
The father again asked, “What's that?”
The son began to get irritated at this point. After several more repetitions of the same question by his father the son was ready to scream.
Later on when the son was entertaining visitors in his spacious living room and his wife was working in the kitchen, the old man went down to the pond and put both his feed into the mud. Then he walked into the house tracking the mud everywhere even though the wife had just cleaned everything. The man went into several bedrooms and even put his muddy feet on the beds.
A little later the wife came out of the kitchen and noticed the muddy footprints on her freshly cleaned floors. She followed them to discover the old man playing on their bed with his muddy feet. She rushed to her husband in the living room and exclaimed, “Has you father gone mad?”
At this the son became very agitated and asked his father what in the world he was doing. At this, the father replied, “I am just trying to show you how much it cost to raise you because you wanted to know.”
Just then the visitors turned to the son with amazement and asked, “Did you really ask your father that question?”