Nasruddin was riding his donkey to the school while his pupils walked behind him. Nasruddin sat backwards, facing the children.
"You look funny riding backwards!" they said.
"If I faced forward, I'd have my back to you," Nasruddin explained, "which wouldn't be nice. If I faced forward and you walked in front, your backs would be towards me, which also wouldn't be nice. If you walked in front facing backwards to see me, you wouldn't see where you're going and you'd probably fall down. So, me riding backwards facing you, just like this," he concluded, "is really the best solution!"
Inspired by: The Wit and Wisdom of Nasraddin Hodja by Nejat Muallimoglu
Notes: This story is on p. 112 of the book. I added the part about how it would not work for the children to walk backwards in order to explore one other possibility. There are a total of eight possibilities, in fact, but there is not room in 100 words for Nasruddin to explain all eight!
The image of Nasruddin riding backwards on his donkey is iconic:
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