One day when Nasreddin was
travelling, he came to a village. The people there said to him, ‘We have had no rain
for three months, and we have no water. Our corn is dying. Please help us! Pray
for rain !’
Nasreddin wanted to help this
poor people, so he asked for a bucket of water. There was very little water in
the village, but each family gave a little, and they filled a bucket and gave
it to Nasreddin.
Then Nasreddin took off his shirt
and began to wash it. The people were surprised and angry. ‘That water was for our
children to drink, and you are washing your shirt in it !’
But Nasreddin said, ‘Wait !’ He hung the shirt up
to dry, and at once it began to rain.
‘I
have only one shirt,’
he said to the surprised people, ‘and
when I was it and hang it up to dry, it always rains.’