BS: The End of the World

Subject: The End of the World
From: GUEST,Auxiris
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:42 AM

The End of the World

Nasreddine had a sheep he was fattening up for a very important occasion: his son's marriage. However, the wedding was not to take place for some time and his friends were impatient to dine on mutton. . .

They soon thought of a plan to convince Nasreddine to butcher his sheep. One after the other, they went to visit Nasreddine to tell him that a great magician had announced that the end of the world would come about that every night and that all the signs of the heavens confirmed the prediction. Little by little, they succeeded in convincing Nasreddine that it would be a good idea to kill his sheep now and have a feast while there was still time.

Nasreddine let his friends persuade him that, since the world was about to end, there was no sense in saving his sheep, so off they all went to the banks of a nearby river to prepare the feast. They dined on grilled mutton, drank and were quite festive all afternoon. Seeing that the world was supposed to end in a few hours, Nasreddine wondered that his friends could laugh as much as they did and have such a good time and began to suspect they were indeed laughing at him. He bided his time until they all undressed to go swimming in the river, discreetly gathered up their clothes and shoes and made a bonfire of them.

His friends came running out of the river, shouting, "Idiot! Why did you burn all our clothes?" Said Nasreddine, "Since it's the end of the world, you won't need clothing or shoes anymore, now will you?"

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:06 PM

links to other stories...(well worth following!)

The Omelette

Suleiman-bin-Daoud and the Three Mighty Wonders

Nasreddine's Son

The Cooking Pots

Nezruddin At the Border

The Threat

Little John

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:17 PM

These are great stories! They remind me somewhat of my favorite tales, the Coyote Stories of the American Indian Tradition. Keep them coming Auxiris!

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:24 PM

Wonderful to read another, Auxiris! Are you going to publish these? They'd make a lovely book and lend themselves well to some creative illustrations.

Thanks for sharing.

(You might also enjoy the story "Lady of Pearls" in the Thought for the day thread of Sunday, February 18th.)

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:38 PM

Lady of Pearls

White Blanket Time & Other Stories

nothing like a good place to stick links

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:53 PM

Dear Kat,

For much more of the Nasruddin (spellings of his name are legion and widely varied in English) corpus of stories, many of them originally teaching stories from the Sufic tradition, check out the diverse and delightful works of Idries Shah, particularly several collections of the tales published by E.P. Dutton in the early 60s. (The versions I have do indeed have some lovely and whimsical illustrations between their covers.)

Happy - and enlightening - reading to all!

P.S. There is a tradition in the Middle East that once someone has told a story of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, at least a half a dozen more must follow...so here's my contribution to the colloquy:

"Nasrudin was a master of the answer which corresponds to the mentality or the intentions of the speaker.

"Once, someone taking him for an idiot, asked:

'Why do some people walk in one direction and others in the opposite direction?'

"Nasrudin at once said:

'Well, if they all walked on the same part of the earth, it would become overweighted and turn upside down!'"

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: GUEST,Auxiris
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 02:50 PM

Hi, everyone. . . I seem to have been relegated to the status of guest for the moment. Haven't yet had time to figure out the reset thing; have to do my homework & read the faq first. Thank you all for your interest (and Mario for the blue clickies). Will translate another one soon!

cheers,

Aux

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 02:56 PM

Mountain Dog, thank you very much! I will definitely look for those. The moral of the stories reminds me so much of some my grandma used to read to us, mostly involving the natural world and its creatures, from a book she had as a schoolteacher called "How to tell stories to children." Last time I checked there were plenty of old copies available at www.bibliofind.com.

MMario, thanks for the links, darlin'...

Aux, these are wonderful! No need to wade through the FAQs, you can go to Quick Links and choose Reset Your Cookie and take care of it...voila!

Thanks, again,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:00 PM

I wanna see Nasruddin face off against Coyote.

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:06 PM

Dear MMario,

In that tete-a-tete, you might well find yourself looking at a form of Janus - two faces of the same Trickster...

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:09 PM

In that case Loki can ref...

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:06 PM

It reminds me of some of the stories told by the Haudenosaunee who are indigent to this little corner of the world. Well done Aux! Katlaughing; I thought you disappeared! Glad to see you haven't! Kindest reguards to all, Neil

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 06:46 PM

Well, thanks, Neil! Nice to see you, too! You must come 'round to the BS threads more often!**BG**

Cheers,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 10:21 AM

The Sermon

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 04:22 PM

I had a friend who thought the world was going to end back in the early 60's. She was part of some Christian religious group, and they'd been told it was going to. I suggested that she give me all her toys, since she wouldn't be needing them. She refused. Obviously her faith was not rock solid! When the world didn't end, she was embarrassed about it for awhile, but also relieved, I guess...

I've seen so many predictions of the end of the world by now that I no longer believe it will ever end...just change. People are afraid of change, and they like neat stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end...like on TV.

That's linear thinking for you.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 05:53 PM

New Zealand or as Kiwis say it - Gods Zone (as Gods own country)

is not the End of the World but you can see a lot of it from there.

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Matt_R
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 06:15 PM

And I feel fine...

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Stewart
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 07:35 PM

Reminds me of Tom Lehrer - "We will all go together when we go"

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 09:08 PM

That's a great song, Matt!

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 09:24 PM

Kind of reminds me of "THe Merry Minuet" by the Kingston Trio. Which had the memorable quote "Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away". Great little tune and I believe that it helped guide me to being a folkie at the very tender age of five.. Kindest reguards, Neil

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Amos
Date: 22 Feb 01 - 09:52 PM

They're rioting in Africa!
Tum deede tadeetum tum
They're starving in Spain
Ta dum deedle tummi-tum
So who burned a Kingston Trio tune
Tum deedle tu ta tum tum
Into an old folkie's brain?
Ta dum deedle tummi-tum

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: MMario
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 10:16 AM

Another Story

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 07:52 PM

Amos, that's the one. There's Hurricanes in Florida Tad da da da... I have it on vynal some where around here. Kindest Reguards, Neil

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 04:03 PM

an old man walks the city a large sign in his hand it says the world will end at midnight 12:30 in Newfoundland.

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 05:40 PM

Does that mean it will end at midnight 12:00 in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI, or is the world just going to end in Newfoundland?

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 07:52 AM

Outrageous thread creep warning!
We have just received a notification from our journals supplier that Civilization has ceased.
As a colleague quipped (and I typically have now stolen):"Is this the end of civilzation as we know it?"
OK, I'll get back to work now.
RTS

Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 07:56 AM

The world can end as long as the earth moves.