Short Story: Mullah Nasruddin tires of entertaining others, but he entertains them, just the same.

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The Mullah had his father-in-law staying with him now, perhaps forever, as he was old and feeble, and the Mullah's wife wanted her father to live with them. Now, the Mullah's wife, Fatima, worked by cleaning neighbourhood houses. She was out early, and back in late. The Mullah, being a good fifteen years older than his wife, was semi-retired, but he still used to speak often on various speaking platforms, when asked of him. Sometimes, this was in a mosque, at other times, in the city square, or anywhere else, that he was asked to do so. The Mullah loved these speaking engagements, and he never even asked a fee for his speaking, and yet, he usually did get something out of it, like a free diner, or afternoon tea, for example. He had a sweet tooth, so he liked to eat the delicacies provided. His wife, however, expected the Mullah, with his infinite patience, to care constantly, for her old man, though. He should not leave him alone. He might fall over. He should prepare all of her father's meals for him. He cannot cook, and he might cause a fire in the kitchen. Every day, he should encourage the father-in-law to go for a walk, of at least a half-hour's duration, sometimes more. A longer walk, of at least 1 hour, was required, twice per week. (The Mullah could, of course, cover this ground in half the time that it took him with his father-in-law, who literally crawled along like a snail.) He should ensure that the old forgetful papa, takes his daily medications on time, every day,. In short, the Mullah, was now an unpaid caregiver, working for his wife, looking after her doddery, old, cantankerous, hard to live with, grumpy, elderly, frail, old, parent. What solution could he come up with here then, was on the Mullah's mind constantly now. The Mullah had been asked to espouse his undoubted wisdom of how to best handle life situations, and interpersonal relationships, the following week, for the mayoral dinner, at the town hall, and he prepared his speech in advance, but what was he to do with the old man. He couldn't leave him home on his own, or could he? The speech was to last for an hour, and with question-time afterwards, then afternoon tea, and idle chatter as well, he might be gone the whole afternoon then too. The Mullah, being the genius that he was, came up with the solution, and he laughed within himself, as he did. He would take the old guy with him, and he would present him to the gathered crowd, as an example of community care-giving, and relationship etiquette. All went well, at the speech, as the old man stood next to the Mullah, beaming his best smile, as he knew that the talk was about himself. He did love to be talked about, and he was happy, being here, the centre of everybody's attention too. The Mullah said, this man has been a pillar in society, holding it up in many ways, as he still holds things up now. (He certainly holds me up, was his thought, behind this wording) I have come to love the old guy, as much I used to love my own dearly, departed father. (The Mullah had had, and still did have, a particularly strong hatred for his overbearing, and overly strict father too). My wisdom has increased because of him, who has given me many deep problems to solve, with his ways. He is a credit to my wife, that he causes me so little problems, and I love to cater for such an old man, in his need. The Mullah had spied his wife at the back of the hall, so he changed his speech, which was to have been a little more critical than this, to one of praise, and so he pleased his wife immensely too, who had come to tell the Mullah off, as the neighbours had told her that the Mullah was parading her old father, like an exhibitive idiot, in front of the whole town, and mayor. Now, that she had heard his speech, she was happy, and so for once in his life, the Mullah missed a berative tirade from his wife that night too. He slept well, for the first time, in many long months. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The mayor was a dapper-looking chappy!