It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin took a long journey to Arabia. When he returned, his neighbours all welcomed him warmly, and then began to question him about all that he had seen and heard while he was away.

“Mullah,” said one neighbour, “did you learn any words of Arabic while you were travelling?”

“Well, what do you think?” Nasruddin replied. “In such a long visit, how could one not learn many words of Arabic?”

The neighbours, all simple country folk, were full of admiration.

“Then tell us the word for ‘camel’,” one of them said.

“Camel!” Nasruddin said, “Why do you ask about such an impossibly big animal? You couldn’t even get one in the house!”

The neighbours had to admit this was true. “Then, what about ‘flea’? What is the Arabic for flea?”

“A flea?” Nasruddin responded. “Now you are going to extremes. Such a tiny thing. Can’t you think of a more normal sized animal?”

The neighbours thought for a moment, and then one said, “A lamb. What is the Arabic for lamb?”

“Now that is a reasonable question,” Nasruddin replied. “And I can tell you that the Arabs most certainly have a word for sheep, but as I left there just before lambing season, they didn’t yet have time to name the lambs.”