(LEVEL 5) Nasreddin Ten Stories

(LEVEL 5) Nasreddin Ten Stories Nasreddin Ten Stories 3 Nasreddin and the beggar 1 Nasreddin and the coat One day Nasreddin saw some water on his bedroom floor. He It was 8 o’clock in the morning. Nasreddin was upstairs. His wife looked up. ‘Oh dear!’ he said. ‘There’s a hole in the roof. I must repair it.’ was downstairs in the kitchen. ‘Your breakfast’s ready!’ she called. Two minutes later she heard He took his ladder, climbed up it and started work, Then a beggar arrived. a loud noise in the hall. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! ‘Nasreddin!’ he called. ‘Oh my goodness! What’s that noise?’ she said. ‘What do you want?’ asked Nasreddin. ‘Come down here and I’ll tell you!’ She dropped the plates and ran into the hall. Nasreddin was there. He was on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Nasreddin wasn’t very happy, but he climbed down the ladder to listen to the beggar.’ ‘What was that loud noise?’ she asked. ‘Are you alright, Nasreddin?’ ‘Well?’ said Nasreddin. ‘What do you want?’ ‘Yes, I’m fine, my dear,’ he replied. ‘It was my coat. It fell down the ‘I’m a poor man. Can you give me some money?’ ‘Come with me!’ said Nasreddin. stairs.’ ‘But coats don’t make a noise!’ said his wife. ‘I heard a loud He started to climb up the ladder and the beggar followed him. When they were both on the roof, Nasreddin turned to him and THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!’ ‘Well… you see, my dear,’ said Nasreddin. ‘I was inside it at the said, ‘No!’ time.’ 4 Nasreddin and the professor 2 Nasreddin and the meat A professor made an appointment with Nasreddin to talk about a difficult problem. Nasreddin bought three kilos of meat at the butcher’s. He took it home and gave it to his wife. Then he went to work. ‘I’ll come to your house at 12 o’clock tomorrow,’ he said. His wife immediately went out and called her friends. When he arrived at Nasreddin’s house, he knocked on the door. ‘Come and have lunch with me today!’ she said. When Nasreddin Nobody answered. He knocked again but there was still no reply, arrived home that evening, his wife put a plate of bread and He looked through the windows but he couldn’t see anybody. onions on the table. The professor was angry. He took a piece of chalk and wrote the ‘But where’s the meat that I gave you this morning?’ asked word IDIOT on the door in big letters. Nasreddin. Nasreddin returned home later and he saw it. ‘Oh dear!’ he said. ‘My appointment with the professor!’ ‘The cat ate it,’ replied his wife. Nasreddin immediately went and got the scales. He picked up the He immediately ran to the professor’s house. cat and put it on the scales. It weighed exactly three kilos!’ ‘I’m very sorry,’ he said. ‘I completely forgot our appointment. ‘This is very strange!’ he said. ‘If the cat weighs exactly three kilos, Please forgive me. I remembered it only when I saw your name on where’s the meat? And if this is the meat, where’s the cat?’ my door!’ 5 Nasreddin and the lost key his wife. One evening Nasreddin’s neighbour was going home when he ‘Here’s some soap, my dear. Can you wash my shirt, please?’ saw Nasreddin on his hands and knees among the cabbages. His wife went into the garden and started to wash the shirt. ‘What are you doing, neighbour?’ he asked. Suddenly, a big black crow flew down, took the soap and flew ‘I’m looking for my key,’ replied Nasreddin. away. Nasreddin’s wife looked up and saw the bird in a tree. She ‘I’ll help you,’ said the man, and he started looking for the key too. shouted at it angrily. Nasreddin heard her and ran out of the There was a full moon that night, so they could see very well. house. They looked among the cabbages and among the onions. They ‘Are you alright, my dear?’ he asked. looked among the carrots, too, but they didn’t find the key. ‘That crow took my soap!’ she said. ‘Where exactly did you lose your key?’ the man asked. Nasreddin looked at the bird and smiled. 'Look at the colour of my ‘In my house,’ replied Nasreddin. shirt, and look at the colour of that bird!’ he said to his wife. ‘He ‘Then why are we looking for it out here in the garden?’ obviously needs the soap more than I do!’ ‘Because there is more light out here than in my house,’ said Nasreddin. 8 Nasreddin and the museum guide One day Nasreddin was in a museum with some tourists. The 6 Nasreddin and the bear hunt museum guide showed them a pot and said. ‘This pot is five One day the Sultan invited Nasreddin to go on a bear hunt with thousand years old.’ him. ‘Excuse me,’ said Nasreddin politely, ‘but I think it’s five thousand Nasreddin was very afraid of bears but he couldn’t say ‘no’ to the and four years old.’ Sultan. The tourists were surprised but the guide was a little angry. He ‘Thank you,’ he replied politely. ‘I’ll be at the palace early took them to another room and showed them some gold coins. tomorrow morning.’ ‘These coins are three thousand years old.’ He told them. Nasreddin was away for five days. When he returned to his village, ‘Three thousand and four years old,’ said Nasreddin. his neighbour asked him, ‘So, what was the bear hunt like?’ Now the guide was very angry. ‘How can you know the exact ‘It was fantastic!’ replied Nasreddin. date?’ he asked. ‘How many bears did you see?’ asked the neighbour. Nasreddin smiled and replied. ‘It’s very easy. You said the coins ‘None!’ replied Nasreddin. were three thousand years old when I was here four year ago!’ ‘Then why did you say the bear hunt was fantastic?’ Nasreddin smiled at him and said, ‘Because when the Sultan 9 Nasreddin and the woodcutter invites you to go on a bear hunt and you’re afraid of bears, not One day Nasreddin went to a friend who worked in a forest and seeing any bears is fantastic!’ said ‘I want to be a woodcutter.’ ‘But woodcutters must be young and strong,’ said his friend. 7 Nasreddin and the crow ‘Try me!’ said Nasreddin. Nasreddin brought home a piece of soap one day and gave it to ‘Alright,’ said his friend. ‘There are five hundred trees in that field over there. Go and cut them down.’ Three days later, Nasreddin came back. ‘How many trees did you cut down?’ his friend asked. ‘All of them,’ replied Nasreddin. And it was true. There weren’t any trees in the field. His friend was surprised. ‘Where did you learn to cut down trees so fast?’ he asked. ‘In the Sahara desert,’ said Nasreddin. ‘But there aren’t any trees in the Sahara desert,’ said his friend. ‘There aren’t any now!’ replied Nasreddin. 10 Nasreddin and the rock Nasreddin had a lot of friends. Some of them were old and some of them were young. One day he said to them, ‘Old men are more intelligent than young men.’ ‘That’s true,’ his old friends replied. ‘But young men are stronger than old men,’ said one of his young friends. ‘I don’t agree,’ said Nasreddin. ‘I am still as strong as when I was a young man.’ ‘How is that possible?’ his friends asked. ‘Explain that, please, Nasreddin!’ ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Can you see that big rock over there?’ They all looked at the rock. ‘When I was a young man, I tried to move it but I couldn’t,’ explained Nasreddin. ‘I am an old man now and when I try to move it, I still can’t!’