Mullah Nasruddin Books by Ron J. Suresha

I Was Right All Along

One afternoon the Mullah, fiercely brandishing a large metal spoon, chased Fatima out of their house and down the street, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Don’t try to stop me! This is the last straw! Just let me get my hands on you! I’ll show you what’s what —!”

Since nosey neighbors are never far away, some folks heard the screams and rushed out to intercept Nasruddin, trying to stop the fight. The men took Nasruddin into Hamza’s house to calm Nasruddin down, and the women took Fatima to her friend Turan’s to comfort and protect her.

As it so happened, Hamza was hosting a wedding party for his cousin. Nasruddin was seated at the dining table, where many trays of delicious baklava, a sweet pastry with pistachios and honey, were to be served the wedding guests. Naturally since the Mullah was so distraught, they encouraged him to help himself to the baklava on the tray in front of him. Nasruddin ate the baklava, one consoling piece after another, as he complained at length about his wife, saying, “If I had caught that woman — I would’ve turned her around — this indeed was the last straw — how she abuses my tolerance —” He finished one tray and moved on to the next, continuing his rant. “She should be punished like a child — I cannot live like this any longer,” and so on and on he went, gobbling down chunks of baklava.

Hamza said, “We’ve never seen you so upset. What happened?”

“We were discussing something and had different opinions. The disagreement turned into an argument which turned into a row, and we ended up exchanging punches.”

Just then the women brought Fatima and the hosts did everything to calm and reconcile her and Nasruddin. Soon the Mullah and his wife were sitting together, laughing and gorging themselves on the heavenly sweet baklava and enjoying themselves.

Nasruddin said, “My dear Fatima, please remind me to lose my temper more often — then life really would be worth living!”

Hamza brought the newlyweds to introduce them to the Nasruddins and said, “This serves as a fine example of how married couples can learn to get along, no matter what. Now tell us, Nasruddin, what were you and Fatima fighting about that made you so angry?”

“We were arguing about —,” Nasruddin explained between big bites of baklava, “the reason that we had not been invited — to this wedding! She maintained that it was because your servants forgot to write out our names on the invitation list, and I felt certain that you were trying to avoid us because of the last nasty fight we had at one of your relatives’ weddings. Obviously, I was right all along.”

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 a favorite among Fatima stories. This retelling includes elements from several versions of a domestic dispute that ends well. In some cases Fatima is abused quite openly, in others the action is limited to threats of violence only. Domestic aggression is a recurring theme in Nasruddin tales, which originate from a time when there was far less regard for women in Persian/Turkish culture than there is now.