It Only Hurts When I Laugh!
There is an old tragicomic character, whom Iranians know as Mullah Nasr-e-Din. He is a kind of buffoon that the ordinary people can immediately identify with, and is therefore perhaps the best loved character in Iranian literature and folklore. Thousands of stories are attached to him. (Incidentally he is also claimed by the Turks as their own. They call him by a slightly different name which I don't recall right now. I believe the Arabs also lay claim to him, and god only knows maybe the Afghans and Indians too.)
He is the quintessential Muslim idiot. He is mock-pious, he is the eternal cuckold, he's the perennial butt of everyone's jokes, and pranks. He is supposed to be a simple man, as I said, to the point of idiocy. He is in fact, at heart a good man, but through his gullibility and simplicity, his entire life is made up of anecdotal episodes of personal failure and humiliation. He invites his best friend to make himself at home, only to have him sleep with his wife as soon as his back is turned, or offers another a helping hand, only to be robbed blind, and so on.
In all the countries that lay claim to his invention they see him as the comical face of the tragedy of everyday life. Whenever some misfortune befalls you, someone will have a comforting anecdote (antidote?) of Nasr-e-Din Khan for you, to let you know that there are worse things in life.
Anyway, enough preamble, one of my favourites goes something like this:
"A friend comes to visit the Mullah, and on reaching his door he hears screams of agony issue from his house. Worried he bangs on the door, and enters the house. Reaching the room where the screams are coming from he sees Nasr-e-Din sitting in the corner, on the floor with his trousers down. The Mullah is in the process of piercing his balls, viciously with a needle. as his screams subside his worried friend says "In God's name man, what are doing?" Nasr-e-din looks up through tearful, bloodshot eyes to his friend and says "Ah, but it feels so good when I stop!"
Perhaps that resonates with you too!
He is the quintessential Muslim idiot. He is mock-pious, he is the eternal cuckold, he's the perennial butt of everyone's jokes, and pranks. He is supposed to be a simple man, as I said, to the point of idiocy. He is in fact, at heart a good man, but through his gullibility and simplicity, his entire life is made up of anecdotal episodes of personal failure and humiliation. He invites his best friend to make himself at home, only to have him sleep with his wife as soon as his back is turned, or offers another a helping hand, only to be robbed blind, and so on.
In all the countries that lay claim to his invention they see him as the comical face of the tragedy of everyday life. Whenever some misfortune befalls you, someone will have a comforting anecdote (antidote?) of Nasr-e-Din Khan for you, to let you know that there are worse things in life.
Anyway, enough preamble, one of my favourites goes something like this:
"A friend comes to visit the Mullah, and on reaching his door he hears screams of agony issue from his house. Worried he bangs on the door, and enters the house. Reaching the room where the screams are coming from he sees Nasr-e-Din sitting in the corner, on the floor with his trousers down. The Mullah is in the process of piercing his balls, viciously with a needle. as his screams subside his worried friend says "In God's name man, what are doing?" Nasr-e-din looks up through tearful, bloodshot eyes to his friend and says "Ah, but it feels so good when I stop!"
Perhaps that resonates with you too!
posted by FLUX at 9:46 PM
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