A wandering monk

A wandering monk walked barefoot everywhere he went, to the point that the soles of his feet eventually became quite thick and leathery. And because he ate very little, he gradually became very frail. Several days often passed between opportunities to brush his teeth, so he usually had bad breath. Therefore, throughout the region, he came to be known as the super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.

Found in many places, including: http://www.talkingtospirit.com/rec57.html

(I'm just spring-cleaning an ancient collection of files dating back to a time when the web was just a gleam in Tim Berners-Lee's eye and jokes used to arrive by e-mail)