The rarest birdsong | Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

The rarest birdsong

Young Nasruddin was fond of apricots, and so once while traveling by himself back from market, very hungry and tired, he saw a farmer’s orchard filled with the most delicious-looking fruits. The boy couldn’t control himself, so he ran into the orchard and started stuffing both his mouth and his pockets with apricots.

Shortly the farmer and his dog came by, and Nasruddin climbed the tree. The dog sniffed the boy and started barking, which made the farmer look up at Nasruddin.

“What’re you doing up there in the tree?” he said, waving a long, heavy stick.
Nasruddin said, “Warbling, actually. I am a nightingale.”

The farmer had thought he’d heard it all, but he had to laugh at that one. “Alrighty, little miss nightingale — let’s hear you sing.”

Nasruddin intoned a string of inharmonious notes that sounded more like an old cat screeching in dire pain. Even the farmer’s dog put his paws over his floppy ears. The farmer howled with laughter, slapped his knee, and declared, “Never heard any sort of nightingale song like that before!”

“Well, I may be a bit out of practice,” chirped Nasruddin, as he preened on his perch. “Still, it’s clearly evident that you haven’t traveled far from your farm. That happens to be the rare, exotic song of a Chinese nightingale.”

Your Daily Nasruddin

Another apricot story, but this one is perhaps more popular, being in nearly all the larger collections of Nasruddin lore. there are versions in: Exploits of the Incomparable Mullah Nasruddin (Shah); 202 Jokes of Nasruddin Hoca; Nasreddin Hodja (Kabacali); Once the Mullah; Tales of Nasruddin Hodja; The Best Anecdotes of Nasruddin (Yorenç); and Hakmut Nasaruddin (Levett).

Some variations set this scene in a fig tree, with the young Nasruddin claiming also to be a canary.