Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

How to Catch Up

After some time his friend Hussein came by and said, “I see, Nasruddin, that your ass is dragging — if not already completely broken down.”
“Yes, sadly it’s true, Hussein — her get-up-and-go has gotten up and gone. But what can I do?”
Hussein produced a small brown bottle from his bag. “This contains a special ointment that will boost the animal’s energy if applied judiciously to its rear end, I assure you.” With that, he gave Nasruddin the bottle of plain ammonia and left quickly.
After calling out to thank the retreating Hussein for his trouble, Nasruddin took a rag and dipped it in the fluid, then dabbed it on the donkey’s ass.

Karakacan’s eyes widened, her ears stood up straight, and her nostrils flared — she brayed and reared and took off faster than Nasruddin had ever seen her run before! She bolted in the direction of the river again, leaving Nasruddin in the lurch. He shouldered the burden of charred firewood and trudged toward the river.

Nasruddin felt so tired, and he dreaded having to walk all the way home with the load on his own back. “This will get me nowhere fast,” he groaned, “but at least I don’t have to travel facing my ass’s rear. Still, my old bones are weary and I need to move faster.”

Nasruddin had a revelation. If it worked so well for that tired old ass, he reasoned, just imagine what it’ll do for mine. He got out his rag and bottle, lowered his trousers and delicately dabbed a small amount carefully on his own behind. Soon enough Nasruddin was running just as fast as his donkey had been, and before long caught up to her at the riverbank, where she was soaking her rump in the water. When he reached the water’s edge, he dropped his burden and jumped into the river himself.

Seeing Nasruddin careening down the trail at top speed, yelling at the top of his lungs, fanning his rump, and splashing around in the water, Karakacan seemed to smile.

The story of the Mullah using ammonia to make his donkey, and then himself, move, is told conjoined often with the previous one, “Got Up and Went.” Dozens of the most popular Nasruddin jokes and stories are donkey tales, including the ones included in this blog’s “donkey tales” category.

These charming and poignant stories of a master and his donkey — or is it a donkey and his master? — closely identify our hero Nasruddin with his obedient four-legged companion. It’s sometimes challenging to differentiate between the Mullah and beloved his little gray donkey.

But the donkey is not just the Mullah’s comedic or literary vehicle. The donkey is portrayed as beast of burden that symbolizes both obedient labor and its opposite, obstinate inertia.