Abbott Sebastian had made it a point for the last 50 years to greet the monks at the abbey in the morning and wish them a good night in the evening. Every morning, the monks would gather in the courtyard at daybreak where the Abbott would chant, "Good morning, good morning." In response, the monks would chant, "Good morning, good morning." And conversely, in the evening, the monks would gather again in the courtyard, the Abbott would chant, "Good evening, good evening," and in response, the monks would respond "Good evening, good evening."
One day, a monk from a neighboring monastery came to study in the abbey's library. When he went out with the other monks in the morning, he heard the Abbott chant, "Good morning, good morning." But when the other monks responded by chanting "good morning", the visiting monk responded, "Good evening, good evening."
The Abbott heard this voice amongst the voices of his monks and knew that there was somebody new in the crowd. So he chanted, "Some monk chanted evening, you must be a stranger!"
