Axe and Ye Shall Receive | Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

Axe and Ye Shall Receive

One day, Nasruddin returned home from the grain mill where he worked, ready to cook dinner, when he realized that he had no firewood. So with his trusty axe tied securely in his back of his belt, he walked into the woods to chop down a tree.

It was already well past dusk and dark, when Nasruddin found a good tree to chop down. He spat on his hands as if to get ready to grasp something, when realized he had misplaced his axe. He looked quickly all around the ground in the area, but his search was in vain.

Finally in desperation, he cried: “O Lord! If Thou can find my axe, then I promise Thou eight measures of barley!”

As Nasruddin uttered his prayer, and raised his arms in supplication to the Almighty, his tool slipped from his belt and landed with a loud kelankk! on the hard ground behind him. He turned around and, overjoyed to have found his axe again, shouted heavenward: “Truly I offer Thou my thanks, my Lord! But since it is so easy for Thou hear my prayers, let me also just ask Thou to find me eight measures of barley, so that I may I rid myself of the obligation toward Thou!”

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

Your Daily Nasruddin

Nasruddin asked God to find his lost axe, which was right there in his belt the whole time, and promised God a reward for finding the tool. Then, when the axe dropped, Nasruddin reneged on his promise of a reward.

Why do we pretend to rely on God for even the most mundane details of our lives, then act as if every pedestrian event in our lives is providential? Chop wood when you chop wood, carry water when you carry water. But maybe best to unburden God with the responsibility for every single aspect of our everyday lives.