It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame

Once a renowned philosopher and moralist was traveling through Sufi Mullah Nasruddin's village and asked Nasruddin where there was a good place to eat.

Nasruddin suggested a place and the scholar, hungry for conversation, invited Mullah Nasruddin to join him.

Much obliged, Mullah Nasruddin accompanied the scholar to a nearby restaurant, where they asked the waiter about the special of the day.

"Fish! Fresh Fish!" replied the waiter.

"Bring us two," they requested.

A few minutes later, the waiter brought out a large platter with two cooked fish on it, one of which was quite a bit smaller than the other.

Without hesitating, Mullah Nasruddin took the larger of the fish and put in on his plate.

The scholar, giving Mullah Nasruddin a look of intense disbelief, proceed to tell him that what he did was not only flagrantly selfish, but that it violated the principles of almost every known moral, religious, and ethical system.

Mullah Nasruddin listened to the philosopher's extempore lecture patiently, and when he had finally exhausted his resources, Mullah Nasruddin said,

"Well, Sir, what would you have done?"

"I, being a conscientious human, would have taken the smaller fish for myself." said the scholar.

"And here you are," Mullah Nasrudin said, and placed the smaller fish on the gentleman's plate.

Moral conduct is ultimately selfish.

Originally posted by Scriabin
Once a renowned philosopher and moralist was traveling through Sufi Mullah Nasruddin's village and asked Nasruddin where there was a good place to eat.

Nasruddin suggested a place and the scholar, hungry for conversation, invited Mullah Nasruddin to join him.

Much obliged, Mullah Nasruddin accompanied the scholar to a nearby restaurant, where they as ...[text shortened]... the smaller fish on the gentleman's plate.

Moral conduct is ultimately selfish.

OK, this is going too far and out of hand.

Originally posted by scherzo
OK, this is going too far and out of hand.

you are depriving a village of a perfectly good idiot, you know?

Originally posted by Scriabin
Once a renowned philosopher and moralist was traveling through Sufi Mullah Nasruddin's village and asked Nasruddin where there was a good place to eat.

Nasruddin suggested a place and the scholar, hungry for conversation, invited Mullah Nasruddin to join him.

Much obliged, Mullah Nasruddin accompanied the scholar to a nearby restaurant, where they as ...[text shortened]... the smaller fish on the gentleman's plate.

Moral conduct is ultimately selfish.

I googled for "Once a renowned philosopher and moralist" and it gave many links to various places. It is, you know, a good habit to show the source when you copy and paste. Any child can do this. Someone might actually think you've came up with this stories from your own mind. Not so.

This is called plagiarism.

Originally posted by Scriabin
Moral conduct is ultimately selfish.

That conclusion does not follow from the story.

Originally posted by FabianFnas
I googled for "Once a renowned philosopher and moralist" and it gave many links to various places. It is, you know, a good habit to show the source when you copy and paste. Any child can do this. Someone might actually think you've came up with this stories from your own mind. Not so.

This is called plagiarism.

give it a rest.

to cite the source for Nasrudin stories?

Are you serious? You must really not get out much.

Tell me, do you cite the source for Little Red Riding Hood, or Peter and the Wolf?

In any event I provided the citations in another thread:

Nasrudin tales are from many ages and many cultures. There are Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Berber, Bulgarian, Chinese, Daghestani, Greek, Judeo-Arabic, Kurdish, Maltese, Mandaic, Macedonian, Persian, Serbian, Sicilian, Syrian, Tajik, Turkish, Uighur and Uzbek sources for Nasruddin tales.

Originally posted by twhitehead
That conclusion does not follow from the story.

why not

Originally posted by Scriabin
give it a rest.

to cite the source for Nasrudin stories?

Are you serious? You must really not get out much.

Tell me, do you cite the source for Little Red Riding Hood, or Peter and the Wolf?

In any event I provided the citations in another thread:

Nasrudin tales are from many ages and many cultures. There are Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Ber ...[text shortened]... ersian, Serbian, Sicilian, Syrian, Tajik, Turkish, Uighur and Uzbek sources for Nasruddin tales.

So if everyone has heard it times after times before, then why repeat it again and again here? Where's the originality with that?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
So if everyone has heard it times after times before, then why repeat it again and again here? Where's the originality with that?

Isn't that the idea of this forum? To re-discuss old books and writings that have already been analyzed to death. 😛

Originally posted by FabianFnas
So if everyone has heard it times after times before, then why repeat it again and again here? Where's the originality with that?

Which fish would you have chosen?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
I googled for "Once a renowned philosopher and moralist" and it gave many links to various places. It is, you know, a good habit to show the source when you copy and paste. Any child can do this. Someone might actually think you've came up with this stories from your own mind. Not so.

This is called plagiarism.

Haha! Accusations of plagiarism in a Nasreddin story. 😵

Originally posted by Scriabin
why not

It simply doesn't. The story does not in any way show that morals are ultimately selfish.

Originally posted by twhitehead
It simply doesn't. The story does not in any way show that morals are ultimately selfish.

That's his interpretation of the story, which he ought to explain.

What's yours?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
So if everyone has heard it times after times before, then why repeat it again and again here? Where's the originality with that?

oh, gee, I didn't know this was "invent your own religion" forum -- or "don't cite any past source of wisdom" forum.

Your comments are irrelevant, immaterial and rather dumb.

what, you can't understand the story? You can't use stories to illustrate points, but rather you have to stick to some other format of your choosing?

get out of my face already, you bore me.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Which fish would you have chosen?

you are trying patiently to get a bite out of this guy -- but he's got more lutefisk than sense between his ears.