One day Mulla
Nasrudin saw a crowd gathered around the town well. A Moslem priest with a huge turban on his
head had fallen into the water, and was calling for help. People were leaning
over and saying,
'Give me your
hand, Reverend, give me your hand!'
But the priest didn't pay attention to
their offer to rescue him. He kept
wrestling with the water and shouting for help.
Finally Mulla Nasrudin
stepped forward: 'Let me handle this!' He stretched out his hand towards the priest and
shouted at him, 'Take my hand!' The priest grabbed Mulla's hand and was hoisted
out of the pond.
People were very
surprised and asked Mulla for the secret of his strategy.
'It is very simple, '
he said. 'I know this miser
would not give anything to anyone, not even his hand. I know this miser would
not give anything to
anyone, so instead of saying, "Give me your hand" I said, "Take
my hand, your Reverence." And
sure enough, he took it.'