It happened once upon a time that Mullah Nasruddin came to the market square of his town and saw there a man offering birds for sale.  The birds were not very large, but the man was asking an extraordinary price for them – five hundred pieces of silver, and to the Mullah’s surprise, people seemed to be very tempted by the offer.

Immediately Nasruddn went home, took his hen under his arm, and went back to the square, where he began to offer the bird for fifty pieces of silver.

A friend stopped and said, “Mullah, what can you be thinking?  Who is going to pay fifty pieces of silver for a hen?”

“It is a bargain,” asserted Nasruddin.  “Those little birds are five hundred, and my hen is much bigger and only a tenth of the price.”

“But Mullah, those little birds are parrots.  They can talk.”

“Thank you, friend, for pointing that out.  Then I should raise my price,” said the Mullah.  “My hen thinks wonderful thoughts, but she has the wisdom to keep silent!”