kettle is dead," said the mullah.--"Dead!" exclaimed the
owner: "do kettles die?"--"Certainly," replied the mullah. "If your kettle
could give birth, it could also die; and, what is more," he added, "it
died in giving birth." The owner, not wishing to make himself a
laughing-stock among the people, closed up the kettle business and left.

_The Big Turnip._--Two men were once walking together and talking. One
said, "My father raised such an enormous turnip once that he used the top
of it to thresh wheat upon, and when it was ripe had to dig it out of the
ground."--"My father," said the other, "ordered such an enormous kettle
made once that the forty workmen who made it all had room to sit on the
inside and work at the same time; and they were a year in finishing
it."--"Yes," said the first, "but what did your father want such a big
kettle for?"--"Probably to boil your father's turnip in," was the reply.

_Nazr-Eddin's One-Legged Goose._--The mullah Nazr-Eddin was once carrying
to the khan as a gift a roasted goose. Becoming hungry on the road, he
pulled off one of the goose's legs and ate it. "Where is the other leg?"
inquired the khan when the goose was presented.--"Our geese have only one
leg," answered the mullah.--"How so?" demanded the khan.--"If you don't
believe it, look there," said the mullah, pointing to a flock of geese
which had just come out of the water, and were all standing on one leg.
The khan threw a stick at them and they all ran away. "There!" exclaimed
the khan, "they all have two legs."--"That's not surprising," said the
mullah: "if somebody should throw such a club as that at you, you might
get four legs." The khan gave the mullah a new coat and sent him home.

_Why Blind Men should Carry Lanterns at Night._--A blind man in Khoota (an
East Caucasian village) came back from the river one night bringing a
pitcher of water and carrying in one hand a lighted lantern. Some one,
meeting him, said, "You're blind: it's all the same to you whether it's
day or night. Of what use to you is a lantern?"--"I don't carry the
lantern in order to see the road," replied the blind man, "but to keep
some fool like you from running against me and breaking my pitcher."

_The Woman who was Afraid of being Kissed._--A man was once walking along
one road and a woman along another. The roads finally united, and the man
and woman, reaching the junction at the same time, walked on from there
together. The man was carrying a