THE GOD’S PUMPKINS

Nasreddin wanted to plant pumpkins. He spread pumpkin seed in his fields. He told his wife, “I will plant them in two gardens. One garden is for us, the other is for God. I will sell the harvest of God’s pumpkins and give the money to orphanage and the poor people as our alms.

“Amen”, said his wife.

Then he planted his own pumpkin seeds on the very fertile garden but he planted the God’s pumpkin seeds in the arid infertile garden. Several months later Nasreddin was disappointed to see his pumpkins did not grow well although he had planted them in the fertile garden. Many of them even died. On the other hand, he saw that the God’s pumpkins could grow well and had much more fruits.

Nasreddin decided to steal the God’s pumpkins. The following night he prepared a big sack and broke into the God’s garden. There he picked 20 big pumpkins and put them into the sack.

So far, he never realized that he has been followed by five men. They always kept an eye on him. When Nasreddin tried to find a rope to tie up the suck, he left the sack for a while. Quickly the five men stole the sack that was full of big pumpkins.

A moment later Nasreddin went back. He was very frightened to find that his sack was missing. Soon, he ran home. He said to his wife, “He caught me red-handed. He had caught me red-handed while I was stealing His pumpkins”.