It happened once upon a time that a man came to Mullah Nasruddin and asked him to help look after his affairs while he went to another city for business. “I shall have to stay away for months at a time,” he said. “Please look after my family, my house, everything. If you have any news you can write to me.”

Naturally — and since the man was offering to pay something for this service — the Mullah accepted the assignment, and the man went away relieved to have found a reliable care-taker. After he had been absent for a couple of months, though, he received a short, blunt letter from Nasruddin: “Your cat is dead.”

When the man went home again for a visit, he took the opportunity to give the Mullah a scolding. “How could you let me know about my cat in such an untactful way?” he demanded.

“What do you mean?” asked Nasruddin.

“You should have given me the news gradually,” said the man, “by starting gently. You could have maybe written that my cat was acting strangely, and then after a week or two that the cat was not eating much, and then still later that the cat was sleeping all the time, and then after that, a note to say that one morning by the will of the All Mighty the cat did not wake up. That is being tactful, Mullah.”

“Thank you for telling me,” said the Mullah, “I will follow your advice.”

Satisfied that he had taught the Mullah some tact, the man went away again. Three weeks later, he received a letter from Nasruddin. It read: “Your mother is acting strangely.”