DONKEY WISDOM - Three Stories

DONKEY WISDOM

From Mulla Nasrudin Teaching Stories

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Three Mulla Nasrudin Teaching Stories with the “moral” of the stories in brackets below each story.

Once upon a time, long long ago Mulla Nasrudin went to a shipyard.

Seeing a fire, which he had not expected to be associated with the sea, he asked a workman what it was for.

“We make tar,” said the workman, “and cover the cracks in the underside of the boat. That makes the vessel go faster.”

Nasrudin went straight home and made a bonfire. 

Then he tied up his donkey and melted some tar in a pan and heated it till it was red hot. 

As soon as he brought the smoking red hot tar near the animal, it  broke loose and ran like the wind.

“It works all right!” said Mulla Nasrudin to himself as he watched his donkey flee like a rocket across the horizon.

(Don’t we see it happening all around? We try to apply the right solutions to the wrong problems and the wrong solutions to the right problems, don't we?)

Nasrudin’s  donkey did not return for many days. 

An anxious Nasrudin repeatedly kept on asking each and every villager, every one he met, whether they had seen his donkey. 

Fed up with him, they told him to ask the ‘wise man’ who knew the answers to all the questions. 

“Nasrudin,” the wise man said, “your donkey has run off, turned into a man and has been appointed Magistrate in the district town.

Thanking the wise man for the information, Mulla Nasrudin trudged to the district town and entered the courtroom. 

There sat the magistrate, in all his glory, listening to an important case.

Nasrudin shook his fist at the Magistrate and shouted at him in a loud voice which resonated in the courtroom: “Come home at once, you foolish animal!”

The magistrate was furious: “Who are you and how dare you talk to me like that? I’ll have you arrested and sent to jail!”

“Who am I? Don't you recognize your Master, you donkey! I am the well-known Mulla Nasrudin from the neighbouring village and you are my donkey.”

“That’s ridiculous. Are you mad? Do I look like a donkey?” the Magistrate said.

Nasrudin drew himself up to his full height and said : “I prefer to believe the statement of wise man rather than that of a donkey.”

(Sometimes Status matters more than Truth - “WHO” said something matters more than “WHAT” is said)

The Magistrate ordered the police to throw Mulla Nasrudin out of the town.

So Mulla Nasrudin returned to his village distraught. He was overcome with grief and broke down and started wailing and crying in the village square that he had lost his donkey.

          

“You may have lost your donkey, Mulla Nasrudin, but you don’t have to grieve over it more than you did about the loss of your first wife,” the villagers consoled him.

Mulla Nasrudin looked at the villagers and said: “Ah, but if you remember, when I lost my wife, all you villagers said ‘Don't worry. We will find another wife for you - and you did find me another wife to replace the one I had lost. But, so far, nobody has offered to replace my donkey’.”

(Action to mitigate a loss is more important than offering sympathy)

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. 

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

Did you like these stories?

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
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