Stones Are Included
Once, young Nasruddin bought a small bag of dates at the market and returned home to eat them. His mother noticed that he was pocketing each pit very carefully and asked, “Why are you eating the stones with the dates?”
Nasruddin said, “You think I am about to throw them into the street? Not I!”
“Why don’t you throw away the pits, like everyone else does?” she asked.
“When I bought them,” he replied, “I asked the grocer if the price for the dates included the pits, and he said that it was all included. ‘The fruits come with the stones,” he told me, “no extra charge.” So I may keep them to eat later, or throw them away, as I please.”
Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero