It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin decided he would like to speak to the king. Since he had never been to the court, this seemed to be a difficult thing to accomplish, but Nasruddin did not care about such small matters. He put on his second best turban (because his best turban had been sold to pay some debts), brushed the dust off his clothes, and went to the gate of the palace.
There, Nasruddin asked admission to the throne room, but an enormous guard looked at him with contempt and said, “What business could a ragged fellow like you have with the king?”
“Friend,” said Nasruddin, “I am a learned mullah, and I can assure you that when I speak to him, his highness will grant me more than you have fingers and toes. If you let me enter,” he added, “I will share with you what I receive. You shall have half of whatever the king bestows on me.”
The guard still doubted, but the thought of having half of whatever Nasruddin received convinced him, so he let Nasruddin pass, telling him to go forward to the great doors at the entry to the royal hall. “But be sure you remember your promise,” he said, “or you will be sorry!”
When Nasruddin came to the entry doors, another guard stood in his way, and did not want to let him enter. Again Nasruddin said, “The king will grant me more than you have fingers and toes. If you let me in, you shall have half of whatever the king bestows on me.”
This guard also let Nasruddin pass, only warning him fiercely that if he did not keep his promise, he would regret it.
Then the Mullah found himself standing before the king. “Who are you?” the king demanded. “What do you want?”
“I want more than you have fingers and toes,” Nasruddn said.
“What?!?” shouted the king. “What impudence! You’ll get more blows from the stick than I have fingers and toes, you ignorant mullah!”
“Very well,” said Nasruddin. “You majesty knows best. But you must give half of the blows to the guard to the throne room, and the other half to the guard at the front gate, for they have agreed to take them for me.”