How Long Will It Take?

Nasreddin Khoja was gathering wood by the side of the road when a man, traveling on foot, stopped to ask him how long it would take to reach town.  Although the Khoja heard the question, he said nothing.

The traveler repeated his question several times in a much louder voice, but the Khoja still failed to reply.  Thinking he must be addressing a deaf and dumb man, the traveler gave up and continued walking in the direction of the town.

After the traveler had gone about fifteen meters, the Khoja, who had been watching him, called out, “Hey traveler!  It’ll take you about an hour.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so before?” demanded the irritated traveler.

“Because I didn’t know how fast you were walking,” explained the Khoja.

The Paradox

One day while the Khoja was resting under a mulberry tree and observing a watermelon patch nearby, he entered into a philosophical inquiry about the reason for nature’s ways.

“How is it,” he pondered, “that this huge mulberry tree bears such little tiny fruit, while those mere creepers produce gigantic melons?”

As he was contemplating this paradox, a mulberry fell from the tree and bounced lightly off the top of his bald head.

“Aha!” exclaimed the Khoja.  “The wisdom of it all strikes me.”

The Mirror

As the Khoja was walking to the mosque he spotted something glittering by the side of the road.  It turned out to be a metal mirror.