Leif Ericsson was off on another of his epic voyages. After all of the others, he'd returned hope to a hero's welcome. But this trip was far longer than any he'd ever done before and after five years, the people in his home town began to fear the great man would never return, that some horrible fate had befallen him. It got to the point where the town registrar removed him from the roll.
Imagine their surprise, then, when Ericsson returned once again. But amid all the euphoria, he was told of the registrar's actions years before. Furious, he confronted the man and demanded to know why this had been done.
"Forgive me," the man stammered, "I just took Leif off my census."