Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
Am I correct that this is a play on words, depending on whether one reads it out loud as мочи or мочи?
That's it!


Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
Why is it не and not ни? Does this mean the same as the construction "Сколько гостя вы ни кормили бы"?

A nice question. It should be "ни", of course. But since there is absolutely no difference in pronunciation between "не" and "ни" (both of them are unstressed), many people often confuse them in writing. Try this discussion:
Скажите пожалуйста, как правильно - "сколько волка НЕ