A Jewish man in England had been chosen by the queen for knighthood. When she tapped him on the shoulder with her sword, dubbing him Sir Cohen, he was supposed to say certain ancient phrases in Latin.
But when the time came, he forgot the Latin words. He panicked for a moment, then said the only words that came to mind, the first of the Four Questions of Passover: "Ma nish-ta-na ha-leila ha-ze?"
The queen looked at him for a moment, puzzled, then asked, "Why is this knight different from all other knights?"
From Joel ben Izzy's book The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness, reviewed here.
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