The first wise man began
by asking, "Where is the exact center of the world?"
"It is under my right
heel," answered Mulla Nasruddin.
"How can you prove
that?" asked the first wise man.
"If you don't believe
me," answered Mulla Nasruddin, "measure and see."
The first wise man had
nothing to answer to that, so the second wise man asked his question. "How
many stars are there in the sky?" he said. "As many as there are
hairs on my donkey," answered Mulla Nasruddin.
"What proof have you
got for that?" asked the second
wise man.
"If you don't believe
me," answered Mulla Nasruddin, "count the hairs on my donkey and you
will see."
"That's foolish
talk," said the other. "How can one count the hairs on a
donkey?"
"Well," answered
Mulla Nasruddin, "How can one count the stars in the sky? If one is
foolish talk, so is the other." The second wise man was silent.
The third wise man was
becoming annoyed with Mulla Nasruddin and his answers, so he said, "You
seem to know a lot about your donkey, so can you tell me how many hairs there
are in its tail?"
"Yes," answered
Mulla Nasruddin. "There are exactly as many hairs in its tail as there are
in your beard."
"How can you prove
that?" said the other.
"I can prove it very
easily," answered Mulla Nasruddin. "You can pull one hair out of my
donkey's tail for every one I pull out of your beard. If the hairs on my
donkey's tail do not come to an end at exactly the same time as the hairs in
your beard, I will admit that I was wrong."
Of course, the third wise
man was not willing to do this, so the crowd declared Mulla Nasruddin the
winner of the day's arguments.
My
trip to Bangaloreon
30 October-6 September.
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