Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 8
8 Story of a Lazy Man I remember a story about a foolish man. As the story goes, a fool- ish man had a water pot with a hole in it. Whenever he would go to answer the call of nature, before he could manage to relieve himself and then subsequently clean himself, all the water would drain out of his pot. Finally, after many days of thought and reflection, the bright solution that he came up with was that he began to clean him- self with the water first, before relieving himself; and he was very pleased with his solution. [My opponent] has come up with an insight and solution that is as clever as this foolish man. (Malf ūzā t, vol. 1, p. 177) True Meaning of Friendship Stealing is a bad habit; however, to use something that belongs to a friend, (if they are indeed good friends), without permission is not as indecent. Two individuals had a remarkable friendship. They were beneficent to each other. One of them went on a journey. One day the other came to his friend’s house. He inquired from his friend’s slave girl about his friend. She told him that he had gone on a journey. He asked whether she had the key to the safe. She replied in affirmative. He asked for the key, opened the safe, and took some cash out of it. When the homeowner returned, the slave girl informed him