One day Nasreddin Hodja bought 2 kilograms of mutton from the neighbourhood butcher. He brought the meat home and asked his wife to cook a real nice stew for dinner. Having thus secured the evening meal, he happily headed off to his field to work.
Hodja’s wife did cook the stew but about lunch time a few of her friends and relatives came over for a visit. Having nothing else to serve to her guests, she served the stew. They all ate heartily and finished it all.
Hodja came home after a long day’s work and asked his wife if the stew was ready.
“Ahh, ahh Hodja Efendi! You have no idea what befell the stew,” his wife said, “the cat ate it all.”
Nasreddin Hodja, suspicious, looked around and saw the scrawny little cat in one corner, looking as hungry as himself. He grabbed the cat and weighed him on his pair of scales. The poor thing weighed exactly two kilos.
“Woman,” said the Hodja, “if this is the cat, where is the stew? If this is the stew, then where is the cat?”
© 2001 Lale Eskicioglu
