Snippet to display a fortune in the mini-buffer

fortune-message.el

(require 'fortune)

;; Be sure to set the following to your specific fortune files
(setq fortune-dir "~/.fortunes"
      fortune-file "~/.fortunes/fortunes")

(defun fortune-message (&optional file)
  "Display a fortune cookie to the mini-buffer.
If called with a prefix, it has the same behavior as `fortune'.
Optional FILE is a fortune file from which a cookie will be selected."
  (interactive (list (if current-prefix-arg
                         (fortune-ask-file)
                       fortune-file)))
  (message (fortune-generate)))

(defun fortune-generate (&optional file)
  "Generate a new fortune and return it as a string.
Without an optional FILE argument it will use the value of `fortune-file'."
  (save-excursion
    (progn (fortune-in-buffer t file)
           (with-current-buffer fortune-buffer-name
             (buffer-string)))))