Once, Mulla Nasruddin bought two seers of rice. Then, he went to visit his friend Akber’s ailing wife. A man with a duck sat outside Akber’s house. Mulla said, “Please keep my bag. I’ll come and take it in a while.” Half an hour later, when Mulla returned, the man gave him an empty bag and said, “My duck ate your rice.” Mulla grabbed the duck and weighed it with scales and weights. The duck weighed exactly two seers! Mulla put the duck in his bag and started to go. “Wait! Where are you taking my duck?” shouted the man. “You admitted that your duck ate my rice. I weighed and found it weighing two seers. That accounts for the rice. Your duck does not exist!” said Mulla as he walked away. “Today we are going to have roast duck and naans. I bought rice but on the way it turned into a duck,” Mulla explained to his confused wife.
Mulla and the Duck
