It happened once upon a time that Nasruddin went to the mosque, and as it was Friday, found it was very crowded. At the entrance, he observed the large piles of shoes, and remembering that his own shoes had once been stolen on such an occasion, he decided to surreptitiously take them with him. Wrapping his shoes in his handkerchief, he tucked them out of sight inside his shirt and went in.

When he found a corner where he could sit, a man next to him noticed the bulge in his shirt, and said, “Mullah, you must be a great scholar – it looks like you brought a valuable book with you to study here in the Masjid. May I know what it is?”

Nasruddin stroked his beard and said, “It is a book of philosophy.”

“Philosophy,” said the man. “A fascinating subject. I hope to learn philosophy one day. In which bookshop did you find it?”

“This,” said Nasruddin, “I found in the shop of the cobbler.”