The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin - Softcover

Shah, Idries

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784790095 ISBN 13: 9781784790097

Publisher: Isf Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

A collection of anecdotes and jokes drawn from Middle Eastern folklore and the Sufi mystical tradition, which feature the wise fool, Mulla Nasrudin.
 
The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin is a compendium of tales in which Nasrudin, the village bumpkin and wiseacre, reveals the antics characteristic of the human mind. In each story, the Mulla can manifest great wisdom, or supreme folly. Often enough he reveals layers of both.

Nasrudin and his stories appear in literature and oral traditions from the Arab world to China. Many nations claim Nasrudin as a native son, but nobody knows his real origins or who he was. The Sufis, who believe that deep intuition is the only real guide to knowledge, use the humorous stories of Nasrudin's adventures to trigger breakthroughs into higher wisdom.

Since Idries Shah made Nasrudin's genius available to mainstream Western readers, people from every walk of life have laughed at and learned from this wise fool's memorable escapades.

About this title

About the Author

As the urgency of our global situation becomes apparent, more and more readers are turning to the books of Idries Shah (1924-1996) as a way to train new capacities and new ways of thinking.

Shah has been described as "the most significant worker adapting classical spiritual thought to the modern world." His lively, contemporary books have sold over 15 million copies in 12 languages worldwide and have been awarded many prizes. They have been reviewed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Times, The Tribune, The Telegraph, and numerous other international journals and newspapers.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

COOKING BY CANDLE
Nasrudin made a wager that he could spend a night on a near-by mountain and survive, in spite of ice and snow. Several wags in the teahouse agreed to adjudicate.

Nasrudin took a book and a candle and sat through the coldest night he had ever known. In the morning, half-dead, he claimed his money.

"Did you have nothing at all to keep you warm?" asked the villagers.

"Nothing."

"Not even a candle?"

"Yes, I had a candle."

"Then the bet is off."

Nasrudin did not argue.

Some months later he invited the same people to a feast at his house. They sat down in his reception room, waiting for the food. Hours passed.

They started to mutter about food.

"Let's go and see how it is getting on," said Nasrudin.

Everyone trooped into the kitchen. They found an enormous pot of water, under which a candle was burning. The water was not even tepid.

"It is not ready yet," said the Mulla. "I don't know why - it has been there since yesterday."

THE SHORT CUT
Walking home one wonderful morning, Nasrudin thought that it would be a good idea to take a short cut through the woods. "Why", he asked himself; "should I plod along a dusty road when I could be communing with Nature, listening to the birds and looking at the flowers? This is indeed a day of days; a day for fortunate pursuits!"

So saying, he launched himself into the greenery. He had not gone very far, however, when he fell into a pit, where he lay reflecting.

"It is not such a fortunate day, after all," he meditated; "in fact it is just as well that I took this short cut. If things like this can happen in a beautiful setting like this, what might not have befallen me on that nasty highway?"

Excerpted from The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah. Copyright © 1983. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Isf Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784790095
• ISBN 13: 9781784790097
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128