One day, Mulla Nasruddin’s wife noticed him eating dates with their seeds. “Why are you eating the seeds?” she asked. “Because,” explained Mulla, “the merchant who sold them to me included the weight of the seeds.” “Utterly foolish!” she shouted. Mulla went out in search of a place where his wife would not disturb him. He found a tall walnut tree and sat under it. A few yards to his side, he noticed a big watermelon growing on a thin vine near the ground. Mulla said, “Great God, why is it that walnuts grow on big strong trees, while watermelons grow on thin vines?” But at that very moment, a walnut fell from high up in the tree and hit Mulla on the head. “Ah!” exclaimed Mulla, “I suppose Nature works in an intelligent way. After all, if a big watermelon fell out of the tree and onto my head, it might have killed me!”
Dates, Walnuts and Watermelons
