It happened once upon a time that Nasruddin and his friends got into a discussion about will power — a discussion that led, don’t ask how, to the Mullah declaring that he had such a strong power of will that he could sit outside all night long with neither a coat nor a fire to keep him warm. As it was winter, his friends had strong doubts about this – so it quickly became a wager: if Nasruddin succeeded in his boast, they would celebrate him with a fine dinner, but if he failed, he would have to provide the dinner for them.

That night, Nasruddin and his friends went to the town square, and there they left him, without a coat, and with no way to warm himself.

It was very cold, and soon Nasruddin was shivering. His teeth chattered, he hugged himself to keep warm, and the time dragged by. To tell the truth, his will began to waver – but then, as he was about to give up and run home, he spotted a candle in a window. Fixing his gaze on this, he tried to imagine that he was sitting beside the candle and it was keeping him warm.

Hours later the friends returned and found Nasruddin, more dead than alive, but still in the square, without coat or fire.

“Mullah, this is amazing!” they said. “How did you do it?” But when they heard that he had been looking at a candle, they said, “Ah, no, then you had the help of fire!” and they insisted that he had failed the test and owed them a fine dinner.

On the appointed night, therefore, the friends arrived at Nasruddin’s house with good appetites, ready for a feast. The Mullah welcomed them, and told them that the dinner was cooking but it was not yet ready. They would have to wait.

The friends sat and chatted, but as the evening stretched on, they became hungrier and hungrier. At last, they said, “Mullah, what is taking so long? Isn’t the food cooked yet?”

Nasruddin replied, “Perhaps. Let’s go to the kitchen and see.”

Crowding into the kitchen, the guests were astonished to discover a large pot, hanging not over the usual fire, but over a very small candle.

“I can’t understand it,” the Mullah said. “this candle is much closer to the pot than the one I was looking at – shouldn’t the food be cooked by now?”