It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin was lying on his bed with his eyes closed when his brother-in-law put his head in the door and said, “Nasruddin, are you asleep?”

“Why?” said the Mullah, “what is it?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“What?”

“I need money. Can you lend me ten pieces of silver?”

“Let’s return to your first question,” said Nasruddin. “You asked, ‘Are you asleep?’ And the answer is, ‘Yes, I am, so go away and don’t bother me.'”