One of Nasreddin’s friends loved
money very much, and never gave anything to anybody. Soon he became rich.
One day, he was walking near the
river with his friends when he slipped and fell in. His friends ran to help him
and one of them knelt on the ground, held out his hand and said,’Give me your hand, and
I will pull you out !’ The rich man’s head
went under the water and then came up again, but he did not give his friend his
hand. Again another of his friends tried, but again the same thing happened.
Then Nasreddin said, ‘Take my hand and I
will pull you out!’
The rich man took his hand, and Nasreddin pulled him out of water.
‘You
don’t know our friend very well, ’he
said to the others. ’When you say ‘Give’ to him, he does
nothing; but when you say “Take”,
he takes !’