A Bosnian fable about public opinion:
A man comes into town sitting on his donkey, led by his son.
"Oh, how could you make the poor boy walk like that!" say the people on the outskirts.
So the man changes places with his son and leads the donkey himself. "Oh, what a fool!" comes the reaction from downtown. "The boy plainly needs the exercise."
So they both climb on the donkey. "Heavens, look at that poor animal," says the crowd in the marketplace. "Being made to carry such a load!"
So the end result is that the boy and his father end up carrying the donkey themselves ... in an attempt to please public opinion.
excerpt from 'The 8.45 to Baghdad'
Andrew Eames.
2 comments:
I don't if you heard many Nasreddin Hoca jokes/fables during your Turkish adventures, but that is a classic NH joke in Turkey. Interesting thing about shared culture...
I hadn't heard of Nasreddin Hoca ... and yes to shared culture, as we have a similar system of criticism back home in New Zealand.
But I loved it because a wise old friend of mine had just given a similar lecture ... I must send him this fable.
Human nature eh ... we're all different supposedly but I don't see it.
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