Needs

As Mulla Nasruddin emerged from the mosque after prayers, a beggar sitting in the street solicited alms. The following conversation ensued:

Mulla: “Are you extravagant?”
Beggar: “Yes, Mulla.”
Mulla: “Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking?”
Beggar: “Yes.”
Mulla: “I suppose you like to go to the baths every day?”
Beggar: “Yes.”
Mulla: “…and maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with your friends?”
Beggar: “Yes. I like all those things.”

“Tut, tut,” said the Mulla, and gave him a gold piece.

A few yards further on, another beggar who had overheard the conversation begged for alms importunately.

Mulla: “Are you extravagant?”
Beggar: “No, Mulla.”
Mulla: “Do you like sitting around drinking coffee and smoking?”
Beggar: “No.”
Mulla: “I suppose you like to go to the baths every day?”
Beggar: “No.”
Mulla: “…and maybe amuse yourself, even, by drinking with your friends?”
Beggar: “No, I only want to live meagerly and to pray.”

Whereupon the Mulla gave him a small copper coin.

“But why”, wailed the beggar, “do you give me, an economical and pious man, a penny, when you give that extravagant fellow a sovereign?”

“Ah,” replied the Mulla, “his needs are greater than yours.”

From “The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin”, by Idries Shah

One Comment

  1. Bob Koepp says

    As part of his discipline, in an effort to free himself from attachment to (and thus worry about) money, a sufi friend once filled his pockets with cash and then walked through the city throwing bills into the air. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to watch what transpired. But his description of people rushing to grab the money, but maintaining a safe distance from this obviously “crazy” person, had me bursting at the seams with laughter. The only thing that could have improved his story would be a citation for littering.

    Posted April 25, 2006 at 9:35 am | Permalink

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