A Stingy Rich Man

There was a rich man in Nasreddin’s village. Even though he was rich, nobody really liked him because he was very stingy. One afternoon, he went to a riverbank for a walk. While walking, he was playing with his coin just to kill the time. Losing concentration, he dropped the coin into the river. He got so disturbed and tried hard to get the coin back. He didn’t manage to keep his balance, so he fell into the river. Since he didn’t know how to swim, he was about to get drown. The villagers gathered around the riverbank, trying to save him.

“Give me your hand! Give me your hand!” the people shouted.

Miraculously, the man didn’t want to extend his hands. At that time, Nasreddin happened to pass by.

“Nasreddin, you should do something. Hasan, the rich, has fallen into the river. He is going to get drown, but he doesn’t let us save him,” one of them told Nasreddin.

“let me try,” Nasreddin replied.

He went to the bank of the big river immediately and rolled up his sleeves.

“Hasan, Hasan, take my hand!” Nasreddin shouted to the drowning man.

To this, the man immediately extended his hand and grabbed Nasreddin’s arm. Now Nasreddin and the others were able to pull the man out of the water.

“How could you make it, Nasreddin?” one of the villagers asked.

“It’s easy. He is quite stingy, right? He is not used to giving to others. He’s better at taking than giving. So use the word ‘take’ not ‘give’,” Nasreddin replied calmly. The people nodded their heads, indicating that they understood. They know that the stingy person never gives but takes something.

[Taken from Nasreddin’s Funniest Stories by Priyasudiarja & Purwaningsih, 2011]