With his unsurpassed wit, Mushfiqi constantly annoyed the emir. The emir decided to get rid of Mushfiqa. On a winter night, the poet was put in one of the Bukhara minarets, where he was supposed to die from the cold.
But Mushfiqi did not freeze: he picked up a heavy stone in the minaret and warmed himself by running with it up and down the stairs all night. And in the morning, after Mushfiqi was discovered alive and well, the emir, at a loss, asked him:
- Tell me, Mushfiki, what warmed you at night?
- A light that blinked two or three miles away from me, when at the very top of the minaret I was praying in anticipation of death!
- Then everything is clear! - concluded the emir. - Of course, you were warmed by the warmth of that light!
Soon, returning from a hunt and feeling thirsty, the emir drove up to one of the houses to drink tea. It turned out that this was Mushfiqa's house. But the owner, having seated the guest on the terrace, went into the garden and did not return for a long time. Having lost patience, the emir went to look for him. In the depths of the garden, Mushfiqi sat calmly by the fire, laid out under a tall poplar, and looked at the teapot suspended from the very top of the tree.
“Is your mind rusty, Mushfiki?” the emir was indignant. “What kind of stupidity is this?”
- Your Highness! - answered Mushfiqi. - If I myself could warm myself with the warmth of a fire that was located several miles away from me, then why shouldn’t a kettle suspended from the top of a tree boil from the fire laid out under this tree?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru