The Silent Treatment | Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

The Silent Treatment

Once, Nasruddin was tired of feeding and washing his donkey, so he asked Fatima to do it. She refused, and the argument rose to the level of a dispute in which it was decided that whoever speaks first should feed the donkey. Nasruddin sat stoically in a corner and skulked. Fatima soon became quite bored and wandered off to visit the neighbors.

Shortly the Nasruddins’ thief entered the house, at first thinking it so quiet that nobody must be home. When he saw the Mullah, sitting mute and immobile with his arms crossed petulantly, at first the thief was startled. But then he realized the Mullah was no threat, and went about his business. He proceeded to trash the place and put all the family’s valuables in a big bag. As he was leaving, the thief snatched the turban from Nasruddin’s bald head.

As dinnertime came about, Fatima was still enjoying herself, chatting with the neighbors, and she sent the neighbor’s boy with a bowl of soup to bring to Nasruddin.

The boy was understandably confused when he got to Nasruddin’s house and found him there alone with the place in shambles. Nasruddin kept pointing to his head to indicate his stolen turban, but the boy misunderstood the strange gestures and poured the soup on Nasruddin’s head, then beat a hasty retreat to inform Fatima what happened.

When Fatima got home, she saw the house ransacked, all the drawers and doors open, the valuables gone, Nasruddin sitting in the corner, silent but scowling, covered with soup. “What have you done, you witless fool‽” she shrieked. “Where’s our furniture‽ What —‽”

“Ah ha! Now you must feed and wash the donkey!” Nasruddin exclaimed with glee. “And I hope you’re happy with what you accomplished through your boneheaded stubbornness!”

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

Your Daily Nasruddin

This is one of the most famous Mullah stories and, although Karakacan, the Mullah’s little grey donkey does not make an appearance, the entire story is about who gets to clean and feed the beast.

This is one of several stories in which Nasruddin intereacts with the thief who has come to steal the household’s possessions.