An old bearded shepherd with a crooked staff walked up

to a stone pulpit and said, "And lo, it came to pass that

the trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself

a young wife by the name of Dot.  And Dot Com was a comely

woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg.  Indeed, she had

often been called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why doth thou travel

far, from town to town, with thy goods when thou can trade

without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle

bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How dear?"

And Dot replied,"I will place drums in all the towns and

drums in between to send messages saying what you have for

sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best

price, and the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made

by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way

with the drums.  And the drums rang out and there was immediate

success.  Abraham sold all the goods he had, at the top price,

without ever moving from his tent.

But his success did arouse envy.  A young man named Maccabia

did secret himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of

insider trading.  And the young man did take to Dot Com's

trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called New Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites

or NERDS for short.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches

and the deafening sound of drums, that no one noticed that

the real riches were going to the drum maker, one Brother

William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land,

and indeed did insist on making drums that would work only if

you bought Brother Gates' drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being

taken over by others."  And as Abraham looked out over the Bay

of Ezekiel, or as it came to be known as "eBay," he said, "We

need a name that reflects what we are."

Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."

"Whoopee!", said Abraham.

"No, YAHOO!" said Dot Com…and that is how it all began.

It wasn't Al Gore after all!