O'Henry, an American short story writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Henry

A Shaggy dog story is one which takes a very long time to reach a rather weak punch line.

For instance: There were two counts who lived in demesnes next to each other. The one was a nice chap who his serfs loved because he was good to them and consequently his estate prospered. He invested in his lands and castle and it was rumoured he became very wealthy keeping a pot of gold in his castle in a secret room.

The other count was a real pig of a man, he was a drunk, abusive by nature he was always going off to war or fighting with his peer group over women or gambling losses. His peasants hated him because he was cruel and uncaring towards them.

One day the second count was visited by another nobleman who told him he had seven days to pay up his gambling debts or lose his estate. This really worried the count and he set off asking the few friends he had if they'd loan him money - none of them would. He went to the king reminding him that he'd been one of the first of the nobles to assist in the various wars which had been fought, but sadly the king was short of money himself owing to the latest war and couldn't help him.

He went home and sat in his castle thinking he was going to lose his home and his lands when he looked across to the castle of his neighbour the good count. Moments later he jumped on his horse and rode over to the neighbour's castle and demanded a meeting with him. He asked him for the money to pay his debts. The neighbour knowing how profligate he was, refused quoting some parable to him as his reason.

The bad count realising he had nothing to lose grabbed his neighbour and rendering him unconscious took him back to his own castle. When the poor man recovered his senses the nasty count began to demand the money he needed. The good count refused. He was locked up in the dungeon and tortured every day but still he wouldn't reveal the whereabouts of his fortune.

Finally, the bad count decided to threaten to kill him and they tied him to a block and threatened to cut his head off. The executioner was told to stop the axe a hair's breadth from the man's neck for two occasions and if he wouldn't tell to chop his head off. The axe fell and stopped just above the man's neck. He was really frightened but stayed quiet. The second time he screamed his head off in fear. The bad count realised that once more and the secret would be spilled and ordered his executioner to raise the axe once more but forgetting to tell him to stay the axe. He gave the order to drop the axe and the poor count yelled he would tell them where his money was just as the axe severed his head from his body. The bad count couldn't find the cash and lost his castle becoming a vagabond.

The moral of the story is: Be careful not to hatchet your counts before they've chickened!