a joke: based very loosely on a real incident.

guy and girl are in paris, walking down a boulevard with short leafy trees and thin overhanging branches. girl, not looking where she is going, almost walks into overhanging branch but manages to brush it aside before it pokes her eyes out. guy chuckles in mirth; he thinks it's funny. girl takes offence, sniffs and says, "in the age of chivalry you would have drawn a sword and hacked off the offending limb."

later on in the evening the girl stubs her toe on an unseen corner; she is unable to move for a while for the pain. guy jokes, "may i offer to cut off that offending limb for you?"

***
loosely based, because the first did happen and crystal did say that while in paris (she must have been a) on drugs or b) reading too many fantasy novels because option c) she is a romantic medievalist just isn't true.) the second incident, however, never took place. i did, however, take a chance to offer to hack off an offending limb of hers; only i've forgotten the context and hence had to invent a wholly different one, and set the entire incident within the form of a generic joke, with no names named.

anecdote requires much effort, sometimes.