asruddin's neighbor wasa crooked man with a large, bushy moustache and
he knew about his financial difficulties. He thought he could take
advantage of the situation. "I want to helpyou, good neighbor. I will
buy the house from you, even though I don't really have any interest
in it." The man offered a pitiful price.
Mullah Nasruddin lookeddelighted and drew a small piece of paper from
the folds of his clothing. "God bless you with long life and healthy
progeny for this generous gesture! The house shall be yours, as soon
as we take care of this little clause in the contract."
"What clause?" asked theneighbor, suspiciously.
"Only a very small thing. This house was built by my father."
"A fine gentleman he was. Always paid in cash."
"And you see here on thewall of the living room — there is one nail
sticking out. My father never had the chance to finish hammering it
in. He had a heart attack and died."
"God rests his soul!" The neighbor looked as contrite as he could.
"I therefore request that I be allowed to keep ownership of that nail,
and do whatever I want with it."
The neighbor agreed butexplained that he would have to consult his
wife before signing.
His wife raised some serious objections. "Whyis he going to keep a
nail? What does it mean?"
"He just wants to be allowed to keep and 'worship' his nail from time
to time. That's all."
"He is crazy!"
"Maybe so. But we are getting the house for half its value. So what's
the problem if he wants to keep a small nail?"
The wife finally relented, the contract was signed, and Mullah
Nasruddin moved out.
A month went by. One evening they heard a knock on the door. It
wasNasruddin, with head bowed.
"Oh Mullah, where have you been? We were wondering about you," lied
the crooked man.
Nasruddin explained that he had come to worship his nail and the man
agreed to let him into the house.
Mullah humbly walked behind the man, bowed in front of the nail, and
put his hat on it.
As he was about to leave, the man questioned him. "Hey, hey, what is
that doing there?"
"That's my hat."
"Yes, but you can't leave it in my house."
"'course I can" said the Mullah as he headed towards the door. "It is
on my nail."
Two weeks passed before Mullah Nasruddin's next visit.
"Ah, good morning Mullah. You have come to take back your hat, I presume."
"No thank you, my dear friend. I have come to worship my nail." Once
again he bowed before the nail and, his worshipfinished, he hung a
scarf with his hat and turned to leave.
The crooked man was not amused but there was nothing he could dowhen
Nasruddin claimedhe was worshipping his dead father's nail. The man
sucked the end of his moustache and persuaded himself that this would
be the last time, if only because there was nothing more the mad
Mullah could possibly hang on the nail. He slammed the door behind the
departing pilgrim and hoped his wife wouldn't be too angry.
A week later Mullah Nasruddin returned and bowed towards the nail.
Before turning to leave he took off his coat and hung it on the nail
alongwith the hat and the scarf.
The wife was furious andshe upbraided her husband. "Now look what he's
done. He is taking advantage of our kindness. No, advantage of your
weakness."
"But what can I do?" Theunhappy husband chewed at the ragged end of
his moustache. "We agreed that he can do whatever he wants with his
nail. But fear not, pumpkin, now the nail is full."
The next day, Mullah Nasruddin showed up again. The man tried to shut
the door in his face when he saw who it was, but Nasruddin had already
placed his foot inside – nothing was going to stop him worshipping his
nail.
"Oh God. You again. I do hope this is the last time!" He tugged at the
hair on his upper lip.
"Possibly" replied Nasruddin with his usualbenign smile. He entered,
dragging behind him the carcass of a cow and as he proceeded to hang
it on his nail, the wife went mad with rage, and screamed at her
husband.
"Get that out of my house or I'm leaving you!"
The husband protested vehemently, "Mullah Nasruddin, this is going too
far. We cannot have that."
"But you signed the contract, good neighbor."
"Well, we will see about that. Let us have the council of elders make a ruling."
Soon an assembly of all the wise men of the village had been convened,
and the neighbor explained the situation while smearingthe few wisps
of his once bristling moustache across his upper lip, as though the
sprouts hair offended him.
Mullah simply presented the contract, without uttering a word in his defense.
The wise men studied it carefully, and eventually pronounced that the
Mullah was perfectly entitled to do as he wished with his nail. There
is nothing in the contract that restricted how the nail should be
worshipped. :->
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