Drying Flour on the Clothesline

Hussein was not easily discouraged from trying to borrow Nasruddin’s rope. He asked, “So tell me, how long will your clothesline stay in use like that?”

“Offhand, I don’t know,” said Nasruddin, “but Fatima might be able to tell us.”

“Well, then, why don’t you go and ask her, Nasruddin?” persisted Hussein.

“Okay. Stay right there. Let me check,” said Nasruddin, and he slipped inside the house. Ten minutes later Hussein knocked on the door. Nasruddin cracked open the door, emerged, and shut the door behind him. He walked slowly up to Hussein, and said quietly, “I’m sorry, but it turns out the clothesline is no longer in use lying on the floor. Fatima has now decided that she needed to use it.”

“Oh, what does she suddenly need to use the clothesline for?”

“She said . . . she needs the rope . . . to dry . . . some flour that got wet.”

“That’s impossible, Nasruddin! How in the world can you lay wet flour on a clothesline to dry it?”

“It’s really not all that difficult — especially if you don’t want to lend the clothesline.”

Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero

Your Daily Nasruddin

Necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps, but need certainly determines the use or un-use of Nasruddin’s clothesline. This story continues from another clothesline joke.

Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

Drying Flour on the Clothesline

Drying Flour on the Clothesline

Your Daily Nasruddin