Nasruddin's Prayer is Answered

Nasruddin was praying outside one night. "O God" he cried, "please reward me for my devoted service. I'm asking for a hundred gold coins, and I'll accept nothing less."
Nasruddin's neighbor heard this and, as a joke, he tossed down a bag containing some coins.
"Praise God!" Nasruddin exclaimed when he opened the bag and saw the money.
"Wait a minute!" shouted the neighbor. "You said you'd accept nothing less than a hundred gold coins. There's nowhere near that much in the bag."
"Since God kindly gave me this much now," Nasruddin shouted back, "he can owe me the rest."

---

Inspired by: The Best Anecdotes of Nasreddin Hoca by Kemal Yorenc, 52. The story also appears in The Sufis by Idries Shah, free to read online at the Idries Shah Foundation.
Notes: In some versions of the story, there are ninety-nine coins in the sack, but it was easier to tell without having Nasruddin count the coins; the joke still works even with just a little money in the sack. In this version, Nasruddin takes his neighbor to court: What's His Is Mine. In Shah's version, the neighbor throws down the correct sum but then demands the money back because it did not come from God, and Nasruddin explains that the man was God's instrument, and their disagreement takes them to court.

I included this book in Tiny Tales of Nasruddin, where it is story 141.