Nasrudin and the Candle

A Middle Eastern Folktale

By: Bill Gordh

Narrated by: Bill Gordh

Length: 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Award-winning storyteller Bill Gordh (Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence winner, National Association of Parenting Periodicals Gold Award winner) presents this folktale live with no script, accompanied only by his own dynamic banjo playing.

Nasruddin made a bet with some friends that he could stand all night long outside, in the middle of the square, with no clothes on. They all said it was too cold. They all decided that if he could make it through the night with no heat, they would make him dinner, and if he failed he would cook them dinner. He went into the square. As it got later, it got colder. Colder and colder and colder. Nasruddin was about to give up and go inside to get warm when he saw a candle in a window across the square. He concentrated on the candle and imagined its warmth. He made it through the night looking at the candle.

The next morning he told his friends how he had made it through the night with the help of the candle. They told him he should cook them dinner since he used the candle to keep warm. Nasruddin said, "Okay". The friends came over for dinner. Every half hour Nasruddin went back into the kitchen to see if dinner was cooked. He returned shaking his head. "Not ready yet." After several hours the friends told him that the food had to be cooked by then. He showed them into the kitchen. On the floor was a single lit candle. Suspended from the ceiling was a pot of stew. Nasruddin said, "If a candle can keep me warm all night, surely it can cook your dinner." The friends agreed to fix dinner.

©2013 Bill Gordh (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Mind over Matter

What a perfect short folktale! Nasrudin made a wager with his friends that he could stand outside in the cold all night, with no clothes on, and they thought he couldn't. But they agreed if he could, they would make him dinner. When Nasrudin thought he could bear the freezing cold no longer, he spotted a candle burning in the window of a shop. Focusing on the warmth of the burning candle, Nasrudin imagined being warm, and endured the cold all night outside. But then when he told his friends how he did it, they insisted that was cheating, because he had used the candle to keep warm. They told Nasrudin that he had to cook dinner for them. Instead of protesting, Nasrudin simply said ok. But the clever Nasrudin had the unique opportunity to prove to his friends just how far the human imagination goes in providing what the body desires. 😊