It happened once upon a time that the month of fasting arrived and Mullah Nasruddin had no calendar. In order to keep track of the days of the fast, each morning he would drop a pebble in a bucket. In that way, by counting the pebbles he could know how many days of the month had passed.

His neighbour – for who in the world does not have at least one nosy neighbour – spotted what Nasruddin was doing, and when Nasruddin was out, mischievously went and dropped more stones in the bucket. Then, when the Mullah returned home, the neighbour came and began to talk with him.

“Peace be with you, Mullah,” said the man. “By any chance do you happen to know what day of the fast we are in?”

“Just a minute,” Nasruddin replied. “I can tell you exactly.” And he began to count the pebbles. To his astonishment, the count went on and on, to well past one hundred.

The Mullah stroked his beard thoughtfully, and then said, “We are in the forty ninth day of the fast.”

“Forty ninth day!” said the neighbour. “The month of fasting doesn’t have forty nine days. No month does! Mullah, are you going crazy?”

“Not as crazy as the bucket,” said Nasruddin. “It thinks this is day 143.”