Nasreddin: the Wise Fool
by Brenda Sutton

The satirical Sufi figure, Nasreddin, supposedly lived during 13th century somewhere in Greater Khorasan. The Afghans, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and the Uzbeks all disagree about his origins, and all happily claim this clever cleric as their own. The mythological Mullah's teaching stories have been polished, embellished, and passed down via word of mouth around the world. It seems that he and his uncooperative donkey wandered to China, India, Sweden, Portugal, and even Germany. (Interestingly, many lessons attributed to Mullah Nasreddin show striking similarities with the antics of the wily Till Eulenspiegel, and may have been the inspiration for that popular character who appeared in German folklore at about the same time.)

Nasreddin means "victory of the faith", and he has earned the honorifics Hodja, Molla, or Mullah. Be assured, this very wise fool is always victorious at the conclusion of every tale. His adventures are brief but memorable, his actions are illogical but in the end they do make sense. Nasreddin is both rational and irrational, odd but normal, and foolish though witty.

While hunting Nasreddin tales for this issue of Mythic Passages, I found several collections that listed as many as 600 anecdotes in a single volume, and there are probably a great many more stories that have never been written down. Here are a few good examples for your enjoyment:

Nasreddin Stories
Delivering a Khutba
Center of the World
Whom Do you Trust?
The Moving Friend
Two Sides of a River
The Loan Request
Sack of Vegetables
Seeking Perfection
The Donkey Seller
The Life of a Pot

Delivering a Khutba

Once, Mulla Nasreddin was invited to deliver a khutba. When he got on the minbar (pulpit), he asked "Do you know what I am going to say?" The audience replied "NO!" So he announced "I have no desire to speak to people who don't even know what I will be talking about" and he left.

The people felt embarrassed and called him back again the next day. This time when he asked the same question, the people replied "YES!" So Mullah Nasreddin said, "Well, since you already know what I am going to say, I won't waste any more of your time" and he left.

Now the people were really perplexed. They decided to try one more time and once again invited the Mullah to speak the following week. Once again he asked the same question, "Do you know what I am going to say?" Now the people were prepared and so half of them answered "YES!" while the other half replied "NO!" So Mullah Nasreddin said, "The half who know what I am going to say, tell it to those who don't" and he left!

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Center of the World

As he was traveling to the tea house, someone asked Nasreddin, "Molla, where is the center of the world?"

He replied," The center of the world is in front of this tea house where I just now hammered the nail to my donkey's bridle."

"I don't believe this," said the questioner.

Molla sat back, took a sip of his tea and said, "If you don't believe me, go measure it yourself."

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Whom Do you Trust?

A neighbour came to the gate of Nasreddin Hodga's yard. The Hodga walked out to meet him. "Would you mind, Hodga," the neighbour asked, "lending me your donkey today? I have some goods to transport to the next town."

The Hodga doesn't feel inclined to lend out the animal to that particular man. However, he didn't wish to seem rude so he answered, "I'm very sorry, but I've already lent him to somebody else."

Suddenly the donkey was heard braying loudly behind the wall of the yard.

"You lied to me, Hodga!" the neighbour exclaimed. "There it is behind that wall!"

"What do you mean?" the Hodga replied indignantly. "Whom would you rather believe, a donkey or your Hodga?"

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The Moving Friend

One day, a friend said, "Nasreddin, I am moving to another village. Can I have your ring, so that I will remember you every time I look at it?"

Nasreddin replied, "Well, you might lose the ring and then forget about me. How about I don't give you a ring in the first place — that way, every time that you look at your finger and don't see a ring, you will definitely remember me."

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Two Sides of a River

Nasreddin sat on a river bank when someone shouted to him from the opposite side, "Hey! How do I get across?"

"You are across!" Nasreddin shouted back.

The man on the other side sat puzzled.

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The Loan Request

A friend asked Nasreddin, "Can I borrow 1000 toman from you for three months?"

"Well," Nasreddin replied, "I can fulfill half of your loan request."

"Okay, that's fine," the friend said. "I'm sure I can get the other 500 toman somewhere else."

"You misunderstood me," Nasreddin replied. "The half of your loan request I agreed to was the time: the three months. As for the 1000 toman, I cannot give it to you."

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Sack of Vegetables

One windy day, Nasreddin found himself in a vegetable garden and began putting ripe vegetables in his sack. The owner of the garden saw him and shouted, "What are you doing in my garden?"

"The wind blew me here," said Nasreddin.

"That sounds incredible to me," the man replied, "but let's assume that the wind did blow you here. Now then, how can you explain how those vegetables were pulled out from my garden?"

"Oh, that's simple," Nasreddin responded. "I had to grab them to stop myself from being thrown any further by the wind."

"Well," the man continued, "then tell me this — how did the vegetables get in your sack?"

"You know what," Nasreddin said, "I was just standing here and wondering that same thing myself!"

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Seeking Perfection

An admirer once asked the sage, "Master, why did you never marry?"

"Well, in my youth I searched for the perfect woman," he replied. "I spent time with many women, but they all had a flaw. One was beautiful but cruel. Another intelligent but lazy. I had almost given up hope when I met her — the perfect woman. Healthy, intelligent, sensitive, witty, beautiful, talented...she had every desirable quality."

"So why did you not marry her?"

"Odd thing," replied the Hodga, "she was looking for the perfect man..."

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The Donkey Seller

Nasreddin brought his donkey to sell at the bazaar, but every time a customer wanted to inspect it, the donkey began to kick and bite, or it would sit down in the dust and not move. One man asked Nasreddin, "Do you really expect to sell a donkey that behaves so badly?"

Nasreddin replied, "Not really. I just brought him here so other people would experience what I have to put up with every day!"

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The Life of a Pot

Nasreddin borrowed a pot from his friend. The next day, he gave the pot back to the friend, and also gave him another smaller pot. The friend looked at the small pot, and said, "What is that?"

"Your pot gave birth while I had it," Nasreddin replied, "so I am giving you its child." The friend was glad to receive the bonus and didn't ask any more questions.

A week later, Nasreddin borrowed the original pot from the friend. After a week passed, the friend asked Nasreddin to return it.

"I cannot," Nasreddin said.

"Why not?" the friend replied.

"Well," Nasreddin answered, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but your pot has died."

"What!" the friend asked with skepticism. "A pot cannot die!"

"You believed it gave birth," Nasreddin said. "So why is it that you cannot believe it has died?"

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Brenda Sutton is the publisher of Mythic Passages, Operations Director, Corporate Secretary, and Office Administrator for Mythic Imagination Institute. She is an award-winning singer/songwriter with the internationally reknown band Three Weird Sisters. She works in a support and consultant capacity for the non-profit music organization Interfilk, and maintains their website. She is freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines. She is also the mother of five, grandmother of two.