Mullah Nasrudin lived in small village in Persia. He was a very simple fellow. His words often aroused laughter. But sometimes there was plenty of wisdom hidden in them. Stories about Mullah Nasrudin have been popular among children in all villages. Mullah Nasrudin wanted to learn music. So he went to a music teacher.

Mullah Nasrudin had not taken a bath for long time. He had also been wearing the same shirt for many days. One day he was coming back home from the village market on is donkey. On the way he had to pass a muddy patch. From the opposite side a horse –cart was coming very fast. Before M Nasrudin’s donkey could get aside, the cart had splashed mud on him. Some mud got stuck to his shirt. The shirt now became dirtier than before.

When Nasrudin reached home, his wife saw the dirty shirt. She asked him to take it off immediately and have his bath. So finally Mullah went and had his bath.

Mullah Nasrudin’s wife took the shirt to the back of the house where she did her washing. When she looked at the shirt, she grumbled, `How dirty the shirt is! It will be so difficult to wash it clean.’ She rubbed the shirt with washing soap. Then she kept the soap by her side and started beating the shirt with a thick stick. As the shirt was too dirty, it needed a lot of rubbing and beating before it would be really clean.

While he was busy beating the shirt, a black crow swooped down from the nearby tree and flew away with the soap cake.

At the first, she did not understand what had happened. But then she got up and started shouting angrily at the crow. She thought that if she shouted and flapped her arms at the crow, it would be frightened and would drop the soap cake. But the crow did not get frightened at all. It sat quietly on the tree with the soap cake in its beak.

Hearing the noise, Mullah Nasrudin came out of the house and said to his wife, `What is the matter? Why are you shouting?’

`The crow has taken away the soap cake,’ his wife replied and pointed to the crow sitting on the tree.

`Never mind, Look at the color of the crow,’ Nasrudin said. `Don’t you think it needs the soap more than I do?’

The wife started at Nasrudin. When she realized the meaning of his words, she smiled and continued to rinse the shirt with water.

`But please keep a watch. See that the crow doesn’t steal any piece of cloth to hide its color,’ Nasrudin warned his wife.