how do i know whether i am dead or alive
Thursday, 27. March 2008, 19:55:31
the inimitable mulla nasr eddin strikes again.
this is more readable.
one day mulla nasr eddin was thinking out loud while sitting at the dinner table with his wife.
"how do i know whether i am dead or alive."
"you old fool! if you were dead, your hands and feet would be cold." said his
wife contemptuously.
"ah, thank you, dear, i will remember that."
the next day he was in the woods cutting wood for the fire. it was dead
winter and freezing cold.
suddenly, he noticed that his hands and feet were cold. he thought, "hmmm,
hands and feet cold? i must be dead. dead men don't work. i'd better lie
down."
after a while,
a pack of wolves began attacking his donkey who was tethered nearby.
" aha! if i were alive, you wouldn't take such liberties with my donkey!"
this is more readable.
one day mulla nasr eddin was thinking out loud while sitting at the dinner table with his wife.
"how do i know whether i am dead or alive."
"you old fool! if you were dead, your hands and feet would be cold." said his
wife contemptuously.
"ah, thank you, dear, i will remember that."
the next day he was in the woods cutting wood for the fire. it was dead
winter and freezing cold.
suddenly, he noticed that his hands and feet were cold. he thought, "hmmm,
hands and feet cold? i must be dead. dead men don't work. i'd better lie
down."
after a while,
a pack of wolves began attacking his donkey who was tethered nearby.
" aha! if i were alive, you wouldn't take such liberties with my donkey!"
(15%)
here is how it happen:
One day , one of Mullah Nasruddin's friend came over and wanted to borrow his donkey for a day or two. Mullah, knowing his friend, was not kindly inclined to the request, and came up with the excuse that someone had already borrowed his donkey. Just as Mullah uttered these words, his donkey started braying in his backyard. Hearing the sound, his friend gave him an accusing look, to which Mullah replied: "I refuse to have any further dealings with you since you take a donkey's word over mine."
By ellinidata, # 27. March 2008, 21:23:00
By ricewood, # 27. March 2008, 22:49:52
it reminds me of the time when the same neighbor came over asking if he could borrow the mulla's clothesline.
the mulla said that he couldn't lend it just then, as he was using it for drying flour.
"you can't dry flour on a clothesline." said the neighbor.
"you can if you don't want to lend it." replied nasr eddin.
yes allan, he is a case. for some years in turkey, it was against the law to tell nasr eddin stories.
By I_ArtMan, # 27. March 2008, 22:57:59
One sunny day Mullah Nasr Eddin was speaking to a group of villagers, who had asked him to tell them the secret of a good life and how they could lead such a life. He stood in the market place in front of the group and said that to tell them the secret of life he will illustrate it with the use of a jar.
He got hold of a large earthen vessel, which had a wide mouth and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" The villagers answered in choir, "Yes." Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks.
Then he asked the men once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time they had already learned something and as they also knew Mullah and his tricks they were a little hesitant. "Probably not," answered Mustafa. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.
Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" shouted the men. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.
After this the good Mullah looked at the villagers gathered around him and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" Ali raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how much you work, if you try really hard you can always do more!"
"No," replied the Mullah, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
By ellinidata, # 27. March 2008, 23:04:11
By ricewood, # 27. March 2008, 23:04:33
I love your stories Scott,especially when they don;t need "to rise"
By ellinidata, # 27. March 2008, 23:05:06
yes angelika i can tell... that was a great one.
science teachers are telling that one around here.
many of the stories have been usurped and bolderized over time. but sufi collections are usually teaching stories of immense value. the best of them can be understood on seven levels.
By I_ArtMan, # 27. March 2008, 23:36:35
my grand father was born in Anatolia and moved to Greece as a child, he did bring with him many stories and I was fortunate to grow up with them
Later after his passing I move to Aesop! Don;t have me started with that
thanks for reminding me happy days from my childhood.
By ellinidata, # 27. March 2008, 23:41:30
By KYren, # 28. March 2008, 05:16:49
i am using idries shah's spelling. he is the president of SUFI. Society for the Understanding of the Foundation of Ideas.
the egyptians call him mulla musr' uddin,
the turks call him the hodja nasruddin, it doesn't matter. we are talking about a probably mythified character from the 13th century.
he is reported to have lived in anatolia and to have died in konya, turkey. but no one knows for sure.
Nasr eddin often appears as a whimsical character of a large Albanian, Arab, Azeri, Bengali, Bosnian, Hindi, Pashto, Persian, Serbian, Turkish and Urdu folk tradition
Nasrudin, Nasr ud-Din, Nasredin, Naseeruddin, Nasruddin, Nasr Eddin, Nastradhin, Nasreddine, Nastratin, Nusrettin, Nasrettin and Nastradin
in different countries he is called teacher in these forms... "Djoha", "Djuha", "Dschuha", "Giufà", "Chotzas", "Mullah", "Mulla", "Molla", "Maulana", "Efendi", "Ependi".
in swahili ..."Abunuwasi"
the important thing is not the spelling or whether he ever lived at all, but that they are stories of esoteric vitality.
as for the big rocks... think.
By I_ArtMan, # 28. March 2008, 05:45:26
I think the moral of the story is finish the most important and difficult tasks first then you would have a plenty of time to do other trivial things.I am not sure though.
By KYren, # 28. March 2008, 06:11:00
By I_ArtMan, # 28. March 2008, 07:16:32
By momable, # 29. March 2008, 00:55:36
By I_ArtMan, # 29. March 2008, 03:02:04
By momable, # 29. March 2008, 21:44:02
By I_ArtMan, # 29. March 2008, 22:51:41