Take My Hand

One day Mulla Nasrudin saw a crowd gathered around a pond. A Moslem priest with a huge turban on his head had fallen in the water and was calling for help.

People were leaning over and saying, Give me your hand Reverend! Give me your hand! But the priest didn't pay attention to their offer to rescue him; he kept wrestling with the water and shouting for help.

Finally Mulla Nasrudin stepped forward: Let me handle this. He stretched out his hand toward the priest and shouted at him, Take my hand!

The priest grabbed Mulla's hand and was hoisted out of the pond. People, very surprised, asked Mulla for the secret of his strategy.

It is very simple, he replied. I know this miser wouldn't give anything to anyone. So instead of saying ‘Give me your hand,' I said, ‘take my hand,' and sure enough he took it.

From The Tale of the Reed Pipe, by Massud Farzan.