Mulla Nasrudin and the Wise Men

The philosophers, logicians and doctors of law were drawn up at Court to examine Mulla Nasrudin. This was a serious case, because he had admitted going from village to village saying: "The so-called wise men are ignorant, irresolute, and confused." He was charged with undermining the security of the State.

"You may speak first," said the King.

"Have paper and pens brought," said the Mulla. Paper and pens were brought.

"Give some to each of the first seven savants." The pens were distributed.

"Have them separately write an answer to this question: "What is bread?" This was done. THe papers were handed to the King who read them out:

The first said: "Bread is a food."

The second: "It is flour and water."

The third: "A gift of God."

The fourth: "Baked dough."

The fifth: "Changeable, according to how you mean 'bread.'"

The sixth: "A nutritious substance."

The seventh: "Nobody really knows."

"When they decide what bread is," said Nasrudin, "it will be possible for them to decide other things. For example, whether I am right or wrong. Can you entrust matters of assessment and judgment to people like this? Is it not strange that they cannot agree about something which they eat each day, yet are unanimous that I am a heretic?"

Four In A Bed

After his wife died, Mulla Nasrudin married a widow. But things did not go smoothly because Mulla constantly talked about his former wife and the woman constantly talked about her dead husband.

One night, lying in bed, they began to talk about their former spouses again, when sudenly Mulla shoved his wife off the bed. The woman was so upset about this incident that the next day she complained about Mulla to her father. The father-in-law asked Mulla why he had pushed his daughter off the bed. Mulla said:

"Believe me, it was not my fault. With my former wife and her deceased husband, there were four of us in the bed, and there was not enough room, so she just fell off!"

Compus

Someone brought a compass that he had found and asked Mulla Nasrudin if he knew what it was. Mulla looked at the compass and began to cry. A few minutes later, he stopped crying and began to laugh. The man asked: "Why did you cry and why are you laughing now?" Mulla said: "I cried because I thought how stupid you were not to know what a tiny object like this is. Then I laughed, because when I thought about it, I realized that I didn't know what it was either."