| NASREDDIN AND THE BEGGAR One day, Nasreddin is up on the roof of his house. He is mending a hole in the tiles. He has nearly finished, and he is pleased with his work. Suddenly, he hears a voice below. Somebody calls "Hello!" When he looks down, Nasreddin sees an old man in dirty clothes standing below. "What do you want?" asks Nasreddin. "Come down and I'll tell you," calls the man. Nasreddin is annoyed, but he is a polite man, so he puts down his tools. Carefully, he climbs all the way down to the ground. "What do you want?" he asks, when he reaches the ground. "Can you give a little money to an old beggar?" asks the old man. Nasreddin thinks for a minute. Then he says, "Come with me." He begins climbing the ladder again. The old man follows him all the way to the top. When they are both sitting on the roof, Nasreddin turns to the beggar. "No," he says. TEST QUESTIONS 1. Why is Nasreddin on the roof of his house? a) He is looking at the view. b) He is waiting for the old man. c) He is fixing the roof. 2. Who is the old man? a) a beggar b) Nasreddin’s friend c) a roof-mender 3. Why is Nasreddin angry? a) It is a hot day. b) The beggar wants some food. c) It’s difficult to go down the ladder. 4. Why does Nasreddin go down the ladder? a) He wants to get away from his work. b) The beggar asks him to come down. c) He wants to speak to the beggar. 5. Why does Nasreddin make the beggar climb up the ladder? a) He wants to show him the view from the roof. b) He wants to give him a good lesson. c) He wants the beggar to help him fix the roof. FILL IN THE GAPS ground roof no wants beggar money reach calls climb mending down Nasreddin is ......................... a hole in his .......................... An old man ....................... to him. Nasreddin asks what he ............................ But the old man asks him to come .................. before he tells him. Nasreddin comes down to the .......................... In fact, the old man is a ........................ He asks him for ........................ Nasreddin doesn’t reply. He asks the man to ....................... up to the roof with him. When they ........................ to the roof, Nasreddin says, “.................” |
| THE BEST STORIES OF NASREDDIN HODJA |
A WASTE OF TIME Nasreddin has to preach in the mosque every Friday, but he doesn’t like this duty at all. So he is always looking for ways to avoid it. One Friday he has a good idea. He goes up to preach to the people in he mosque. He says to them, “Do you know what I’m going to talk about?” They are surprised and answer, “No, we don’t.” Then Nasreddin says, “Well, if you don’t know anything about such an important matter, it’s a waste of time for me to talk about it.” And he goes down without preaching to the people. The next Friday, he again asks the same question, “Do you know what I’m going to talk to you about today?” This time the people think they have learned their their lesson. And they all say, “Yes, we do.” Then Nasreddin says to them, “Well, it’s a waste of time to tell people things that they already know.” And again he goes down without preaching to the people. The third Friday, Nasreddin says again, “Do you know what I’m going to talk to you about today?” But this time some people answer, “Yes,” and some answer, “No.” “Well,” says Nasreddin, “some of you know, and some of you don’t. Those who do can tell those who don’t.” And he goes down without saying another word. |
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