It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin had an unusually abundant crop of beets in his garden – large, round beets the size of cabbages! Feeling pleased and wishing to share his good fortune, he filled a big basket with the largest of his beets and started for the governor’s palace.

On the way, he met a friend who asked what he was doing.

“Going to offer beets to the governor,” Nasruddin replied.

The friend made a long face. “I happen to know that the governor hates beets. Your gift would not be welcome. Better to take him figs. I believe he likes those.”

Nasruddin went home, filled his basket with figs, and set off again for the palace.

When he arrived, though, he found the governor in a terrible mood. He had eaten a very large quantity of figs just the day before, and he was suffering from some problems as a consequence. When Nasruddin presented him with the basket of figs, the governor shouted angrily, “Figs? How dare you offer me figs!” And he commanded the guards to take the Mullah outside, remove his turban, and throw every single fig at his head.

In a moment, Nasruddin was standing in the square in front of the palace, being bombarded by figs. To the puzzlement of the guards, though, with every fig that struck him the Mullah said, “Thank God!”

“Mullah,” they said, “what is there to thank God for when we throw a fig at your head?”

“I thank God,” Nasruddin replied, “that I listened to my friend and didn’t bring the beets.”