It All Depends on Your Perspective: Is There a Right One?

One day Mulla Nasruddin and his son were riding their donkey, who was getting rather long in the ears, to the town market to get food for the week. As they passed a group of people on the way, the Mulla heard them whisper to one another: “Look at that old animal carrying all that weight. Have they no compassion for that poor creature? What is the world coming to?”

Not wanting to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla, to reduce the load, asked his son to get off the donkey and continue on foot.

As they passed another group of people, the Mulla heard them whisper: “Look how selfish that man is. His young son has to walk while he gets to ride the donkey. Has he no compassion? What is the world coming to?”

Again, not wanting to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla got off the donkey and told his son to ride.

A third group of people, seeing the son riding the donkey and his father lagging behind, whispered: “Look at that selfish young man riding the donkey while his old father has to walk! Has the boy no respect? Has he no compassion? What is the world coming to?”

Not wanting his son to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla suggested to him that they both walk and let the donkey trail behind at its own pace.

As they passed a fourth group of people, some of them burst out laughing: “Look at those idiots. They have a donkey, yet they are both walking! What is the world coming to?”

Not wanting either himself or his son to be seen in a bad light, the Mulla replied, “You can laugh all you want, but our donkey hasn’t been feeling well, so we decided to take him out for a nice walk and some fresh air.”

This is my rather free rendering, with a new ending, of a classic Mulla Nasruddin story.