It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin had some fish to sell – don’t ask how he acquired them – so he put them in a basket and carried them to the market. There he laid the fish on a table, found a slate somewhere, chalked on it ‘FRESH FISH SOLD HERE,’ and waited for customers.

Soon a friend stopped, looked at the slate, and said, “Mullah, if you put ‘fresh’ on your sign, it looks like you have something to conceal about the age of the fish. Better to remove it and let the freshness speak for itself.”

Accordingly Nasruddin rubbed out the word ‘fresh’, so that the sign read : FISH SOLD HERE

Time passed, and another acquaintance stopped at Nasruddin’s table. “Mullah,” he said, “people will think you believe they are stupid. Of course the fish are being sold ‘here.’ Where else?’

Not wanting to insult the public’s intelligence, Nasruddin rubbed out the word ‘here.’ The sign now read : FISH SOLD

Time passed, and another friend came by, looked at the slate, and said, “Sold? Sold, Mullah? Nobody thinks you want to GIVE the fish away. You are offering, God willing they are buying – why do you have to say ‘sold?'”

Nasruddin rubbed out the word ‘sold’. Only ‘FISH’ remained.

A little later, yet another friend came to the market, looked at Nasruddin’s slate, and said, “Mullah, I can smell your table from the other side of the market! Even the blind know what you are selling.”

With a sigh, Nasruddin rubbed out the word ‘FISH’.

Then his wife came, looked at Nasruddin and the fish, and immediately began to scold him. “Nasruddin, you live in the clouds – you don’t know the first thing about the market! Look, you have a slate – why don’t you use it? Take the chalk and write on it, ‘FRESH FISH SOLD HERE.'”