One Day The Hodja...
~ Pots Full of Gold ~
Nasreddin Hodja took employment as an imam in a town other than his own. In this town there was a tradition. People saved their money and when they had enough gold coins to fill up an earthenware pot, they buried the pot full of coins in their gardens. Once a year, they dug up the vessels from their hidden spots, looked at their coins and then buried them again. When the Hodja learned about this practice, he found an earthenware jug, filled it with pebbles and buried it.
`Hodja Effendi, that won't do.' said the townsfolk, `You are supposed to fill it with gold.'
`Good people,' the Hodja laughed, `as long as you are not going to spend it, what difference does it make if it is gold or pebbles?'
© 2001 Lale Eskicioglu
