After years of struggling with his donkey, Mullah Nasruddin began to lose patience. It seemed the animal was more lazy and stubborn every day, not lifting a hoof off the ground no matter how much the Mullah pushed and pulled and swore.

Finally one day, when the Mullah’s son was in the stable giving the donkey some food, Nasruddin put his head in the door and said loudly, “Son, don’t bother feeding this brute anymore!”

“What do you mean, papa?”

“He’s so useless, he’s not worth a handful of hay. I’m just going to let him starve to death!”

But when the son came out of the stable looking concerned, the Mullah said to him quietly, “Don’t worry. I’m just using psychology on this beast. When he hears me talking like this, he’ll start working again, you’ll see.”