It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin was walking beside a river, and – perhaps overcome by the beauties of God’s Creation, or perhaps not looking where he was going – he suddenly found himself up to his neck in the water.

The bank of the river was not convenient for climbing out, and Nasruddin struggled for a while trying to get a handhold or a foothold to help himself. In spite of all his splashing and sliding, he could not manage to find a way out of the river.

Then, a face appeared above him, and the Mullah saw with relief that his predicament had been discovered by a certain scholar.

“Friend,” said the Mullah enthusiastically, reaching upward, but instead of taking his hand, the scholar began to scold him for his carelessness. “How can an educated mullah be so ignorant as to fall into the river?” the scholar said. “A disgrace to your turban! When one has been trained in the knowledge of reading and writing, and the precious science of grammar, God’s gift to the wise, one has a responsibility to proceed in an orderly way!”

“Brother,” Nasruddin said, “since you esteem grammar so much, permit me to point out an error in your grammar. The verb ‘to rescue’ should precede the verb ‘to preach.'”