Ravina Sewani

One day, Mulla Nasiruddin was talking to his neighbour. The neighbour was looking so miserable that Nasiruddin asked him what was bothering him. The man started to complain about the lack of space in his house and said, “It is such a small house, Mulla. And me, my wife, my three children and my mother-in-law–all have to live together in the same little cottage. It is very cramped and there is hardly any space to move around.” He asked Nasiruddin for some advice on how to deal with this problem.Nasiruddin said, “Do you keep chickens in the yard?” “Yes, ten of them,” replied the man. “Good. Bring them inside the house and keep them there,” said Nasiruddin. “But, Mulla!” the man exclaimed. “My house is already overcrowded.” “Just do as I say,” Nasiruddin replied.The man was really very troubled and wanted to find a solution to his problem. He decided to give the Mulla’s advice a try. So the man went home and brought all the chickens into the house. Next day, he went to meet Nasiruddin again. He said, “Mulla, I followed your advice and took the chickens into the house. But it did not solve anything. In fact, it has made matters worse. My house is even more cramped now.“I see,” said Nasiruddin. ” Now take your donkey and keep it inside your house. The man did not think much of this idea but Nasiruddin managed to convince him to do it.The next day, the man came to Nasiruddin, looking very distressed, and said,”Now, it’s six humans , ten chickens and a donkey inside my house. It is so crowded that one can hardly move.” Nasiruddin replied, “You own a goat too, don’t you?” “Yes, I do,” said the man. “Great,” Nasiruddin said. “Take it inside the house too.” The man objected, “How is that going to solve anything?” but Nasiruddin once again convinced him to do as he had said.The next day, the man walked up to Nasiruddin in a state of anger and distress and said, “Your plan has made our lives miserable. The house is now so crowded that we are finding it difficult to even breathe. My family is upset and everyone is complaining about the lack of space.”“Don’t get so upset, friend,” said Nasiruddin. “Go back home and take all the animals back outside.” The man did as he was told.Next day, when the man came across Nasiruddin, he was beaming. He said, “I must thank you, Mulla! Your plan has worked wonders. Now that all the animals are outside, there is enough space in the house for all the family members. Everyone is happy and content with the house now.” Moral:Satisfaction is the key to a content life. Complaining about the situation leads to nowhere.

This is a story of house and Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: family value, satisfaction and smartness

The crowded home

One day, a man climbed up a tree. While climbing up, he did not realise how tall the tree actually was and kept climbing up. On reaching the top, when the man looked down, he realised that climbing down from the tree would not be as easy as climbing up. He could not think of any way of getting down without injuring himself seriously.He asked the people who were passing by to help him. But nobody could think of a way of bringing him down safely. Soon, quite a few people gathered around the tree and tried to help the man, but no one knew what to do. The man remained stuck on top of the tree.Just then, Nasiruddin, who was walking by, saw this scene and wondered what was going on. The people standing around the tree told Nasiruddin about the situation. “Oh!” Nasiruddin said, “I’ll get him down in no time.” He took a long rope and threw one end of it up to the man telling him to tie the rope around his waist.Everyone wondered what Nasiruddin’s plan was. When one of them asked him, Nasiruddin replied, “Just leave it to me. It’s a foolproof plan.”When the man on the tree had tied the rope tightly around his waist, Nasiruddin pulled the rope with all his force. As soon as Nasiruddin did this, the man fell down from the tree and hurt himself badly. The bystanders were shocked at this. They turned to Nasiruddin and asked, “What were you thinking? What kind of a silly plan was that?”Nasiruddin replied, “Well, once I did exactly the same thing and saved someone’s life.”One man asked him, “Is that true?”“Absolutely!” replied Nasiruddin, “The only thing I cannot remember is whether I saved him from a tree or from a well.” Moral:To act without putting much thought often ends up causing more damage than good.

This is a story of men, tree and Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: foolishness

The man on the tree

One day, Nasiruddin was at the king’s court when the king turned to him and said, “Mulla Nasiruddin, you are always boasting about your wisdom and cleverness. So tell me, can you teach your donkey how to read?”Nasiruddin replied, “Of course! That’s quite an easy task.”“I don’t believe you,” said the king.“I mean it and I can prove it to you,” said Nasiruddin.The king said, “Would you take it on as a challenge, then?”“Absolutely,” replied Nasiruddin. “If you give me fifty thousand dollars right now, I guarantee that by the end of eight years, I will have taught my donkey how to read.”The king said, “Fine, I agree. But my condition is that if the donkey is unable to read by then, I will have you put in prison where you will be tortured every day.”Both of them agreed to this deal and Nasiruddin left for home.The next day, Nasiruddin told his friend about what had happened at the king’s court. His friend said, “Nasiruddin, how could you ever agree to such an impossible task? You cannot even control your donkey enough to make it stand still, and now you have guaranteed that in eight years you would have taught him how to read? There is no way you can escape that prison sentence.”“Relax,” replied Nasiruddin calmly. “Eight years is a long time, my friend! By then, our king will probably be dead or he will not be in power anymore. And even if he is still the king at the end of eight years, chances are that my donkey would be dead by then. Worse come to worse, if by the end of seven years, both the king and my donkey are alive, I will still have one whole year to devise a plan to escape punishment. Moral:Taking measured chances result in our favour quite a few times. Nasiruddin was smart enough to take a chance and trick the king to get things worked in his favour. Such chances don’t always end up the way we have assumed.

This is a story of donkey, king and Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: smartness and wisdom

The guarantee

One day Mulla Nasiruddin was going somewhere when he met a man who was carrying a large milk can. The man wished Mulla Nasiruddin and said, “Mullaaji, I have a problem. Would you be kind enough to provide me a solution?” Mullaa Nasiruddin willingly consented to hear him out as he was eyeing his big container of milk.The man said, “Whenever I get up in the morning, I feel intoxicated. My head spins around and I feel as if I have a hangover. I don’t understand what could be the problem.”Mullaa Nasiruddin asked, “Hmm! This is a serious problem, indeed! Let me think. What do you generally eat or drink before you go to sleep?”The man said, “I drink a big glass of milk.”The Mullaa said, “Now, I have found your problem! The milk that you drink in the night causes the intoxication.”The gullible man asked, “How is that, Mullaaji?”Mullaa explained to him, “You drink milk before sleeping. In your sleep, when you toss in your bed, the milk gets churned. It turns into butter. When butter gets churned, it turns into fat. Fat gets churned, it turns into sugar. Then the sugar gets churned and turns into alcohol. So, finally you wake up with alcohol in your stomach in the morning, and that is why you feel intoxicated.”“So what do I do?” asked the man in simplicity.The clever Mullaa said, “The solution of your problem is very simple. Don’t drink milk! Here, give it to me.” Mullaa took away the milk can from the man and walked away from there.The poor man stood there bewildered. Moral:A gullible mind cannot see through the wickedness.

This is a story of Milk and Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: foolishness

Milk for the Mullah

Yesha Desai

Once, Mulla Nasruddin was lying on his bed with his eyes closed when his brother-in-law approached him. ‘Are you asleep?” the brother-in-law asked Nasruddin. Nasruddin replied, “Why? What is it?”The brother-in-law said, “I wanted a loan of three hundred dollars. I was wondering if you could lend me the money.”Nasrudin replied, “Oh, in that case, let us return to your first question, ‘Are you asleep?’ and the answer to that is ‘Yes, I am asleep, so go away and don’t bother me.” Moral:It is important to learn when to say no and deflect from a situation you do not wish to be in.

This is a classic story from Mulla Nasruddin.Moral(s) of the story: samrtness

Are you asleep?

One day Nasiruddin Hodjaa loaded a heavy bag of vegetables on his donkey and set out for the market to sell them. After walking a small distance, the donkey stopped and refused to budge an inch from his place. Nasiruddin Hodjaa was in a hurry; at first he coaxed the donkey to start but when he did not respond to his persuasive words, he started beating it.Soon, many people gathered around them. One man asked Hodjaa, “Why are you beating this poor animal?” Another man said, “You are a merciless man who is beating a speechless animal.” The third man said, “You must be arrested and flogged for beating this poor creature.”Hodjaa was enraged on hearing the people’s continuous comments and he said to the donkey, “If I knew that you had so many relatives around, I would have never beaten you. I can see that you have a large family here.”Hearing this, the people sheepishly went their way, leaving Hodjaa with his donkey. Moral:Poking nose in others’ matters leads to self insult. We should leave others to their matters without interfering. Interference often leads to our own insult.

mulla nasruddin stories

Stories help in improving a child's imagination. Here are a few interesting ones for you to narrate to your child.

The crowded home

The man on the tree

The guarantee

Milk for the Mullah

Are you asleep?

The donkey’s relatives

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