One of the mayor's servants needed to go to the market.
"I need a horse to ride," he said to the mayor.
"You can take that donkey over there," replied the mayor. "I don't have a horse I can spare today."
"But I don't want that donkey!" protested the servant. "I know that donkey. He's obstinate. He bucks and insists on going backwards, not forwards. He follows his rump, not his head."
"Well," said the mayor, "you can point his rump in the direction of the market, and off you go!"
Sometimes you have to turn backward to move forward.
Inspired by: The English prose version of Rumi in More Tales from the Masnavi by A. J. Arberry.
Notes: This is story 176 in the book. I changed the colt of the story into a donkey in honor of Nasruddin's donkey; there are many stories about Nasruddin and his donkey.
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