Hello, everyone. . . having survived both the visit to the dentist AND the bicycle trip to get there and back, here's another story, as promised:

The Cooking Pots

One day, Nasreddine came knocking on his neighbour Fatima's door.

"My dear Fatima! Could you possibly loan me one of your cooking pots? I need it to prepare a meal."

"Of course," she said, "I'll go and get it for you."

She returned with a medium-sized cooking pot and gave it to Nasreddine.

The next day, Nasreddine placed a small cooking pot inside the borrowed one and knocked on his neighbour's door.

"Thank you very much, Fatima. Here's your cooking pot; it's been a great help to me."

"But Nasreddine, the small pot doesn't belong to me."

"Of course it does! During the night, your cooking pot gave birth to a small cooking pot. Since it's the offspring of your pot, it naturally belongs to you."

Even though she thought Nasreddine a fool, Fatima was quite happy to have another cooking pot.

Three days later, Nasreddine came and knocked on his neighbour's door again.

"Dear Fatima! Could you loan me one of your cooking pots once again?"

"Certainly, Nasreddine, with pleasure; I shall loan you the largest and best of my cooking pots."

Secretly, Fatima was hoping to get yet another cooking pot in addition to the one she was about to loan. Nasreddine took the pot, thanked his neighbour and went home.

Two days passed, then four, then seven with no further word from Nasreddine and Fatima was beginning to worry. Finally, she went and knocked on his door.

"Nasreddine!" said she, "You've forgotten to return my cooking pot."

"Oh I haven't forgotten, it's just that I didn't know how to break the bad news to you. The truth of the matter is that, when it was giving birth during the night, your beautiful cooking pot suffered terribly and then died."

"Nasreddine, you wouldn't be trying to make a fool of me, would you? Who ever heard of a cooking pot dying?"

"Unfortunately, Fatima, in real life, all those who give birth eventually die. You could easily accept the idea that one of your cooking pots had given birth, so now you must admit the possibility that the second one has died."

And Nasreddine Hodja kept the la