Frightening Nasruddin

"Our son won't do his chores," said Nasruddin's wife. "You must frighten him to make him behave!"
Nasruddin jumped up and began to scream. He stuck out his tongue and shook his fists wildly. He then grabbed a knife.
At this, Nasruddin's wife started sobbing, and Nasruddin himself ran out of the room.
When he returned, his wife was still crying, and his son was hiding under a chair.
"Why did you run away?" she asked.
"I scared even myself," Nasruddin admitted. "Terror easily gets out of control. I meant to frighten our son, and instead I frightened us all."



Inspired byMulla's Donkey and Other Friends by Mehdi Nakosteen, p. 87. The story also appears in The Sufis by Idries Shah, free to read online at the Idries Shah Foundation.
Notes: This is usually told about some woman and her son, but I made it about Nasruddin's son.

I included this book in Tiny Tales of Nasruddin.


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