The Wife’s Condition

kha-yuma malla Nasraden bakhtu mara katu en-la muyyilukh esri dinare, gu-da beta la-oret. la oret. berrekhshele malla. kmat-ile l-a-yba l-o-yba berrekhsha kat-palekh esri dinare mayye bakhtu yavvale urkha, lele maya, lel maya.

One day the wife of mullah Nasradin says to him ‘If you do not bring back twenty dinars, you will not enter this house. You will not enter.’ The mullah goes off. However much he goes this way and that in order to work to bring in twenty dinars and for his wife to allow him in, he does not bring it in, he does not bring it in.

berrekhshele betyavel gu-kha-dana kharaba, kharaba ila betvay tlikhe let-hech-mendi, tama betyavele. bekhzayele kha-dana … nasha men-danne hajiyye majiyye bitayele palutel khakma mendyane men-gu-kutiyyu.

He goes and sits in a ruin—a ruin is (a place with) dilapidated houses, there is nothing there—he sits there. He sees a man coming, one of those pilgrims and the like. He takes out various things from his box.

zaruzele Khava mara Khava aten brilakh u-mennakh pletlun nashe. kharta khabuysha khellakh ka-kulle drilakh dardusar. mkhayel gu-risho parpusole medre. medre zaruzel kha-mendi khina. kha-khita mara aten … ka-diyyakh … brilun kat-urkha duz azatvala, ina kheshlakh khette khilelakh zyana vedlakh. ka-dayda bektalele. mkhayole parpusole.

He makes (an image of) Eve, he says ‘Eve, you were born and from you people issued. Afterwards you ate an apple and gave everybody a headache.’ He strikes her head and destroys her again. Again he makes something else, another woman, he says ‘You were created to go on the straight path, but you went and ate the wheat and did damage.’ He kills also her. He hits her and destroys her.

bitayel zaruzel kha-dana … men-danne hajiyye kat aten raba spay nashetva ina khartukh vedlukh kherba shulane khartukh vedlukh kherba shulane til kat parpesvale malla churcherre. malla churcherre merre la la ktulle la ktulle chunket a kay denaneva. denaneva, la ktulle. kli ana shaklennun mennu, kharta ktulle.

He comes and makes one of those pilgrims (saying) ‘You were a very good man, but afterwards you did bad things.’ He came to destroy it, but the mullah screamed. The mullah screamed saying ‘No, do not kill him, do not kill him, because he was in debt to me. He was in debt to me, do not kill him. Wait, I shall take it (the money) from him, afterwards kill him.’

avva haji khzile kat-kha-nasha khina tama tiveva. churcherre zdile ay berraka. kulle mendi shvekle. rekle kheshle. rekle kheshle. a-malla bekyamel gashshukel gu-kisu khaze maniva avva nasha, mudiva. anne mendyane zaruzeva vadeva ganu ka-ganu. gashshukele ina khamshamma dinare gu-kisu.

The pilgrim saw that another man was sitting there. He shouted in fear ‘Ah!’ and fled. He left everything. He fled. He fled. The mullah gets up and looks in his purse to see who this man was, what he was. He made these things by himself. He looks and (sees) five hundred dinars in his purse.

beshkalele berkhata kes-bakhtu. mara bakhta tarra ptukhle! mara etlukh esri dinare? mara tarra ptukhle men-gib esri dinare khamshamma dinare etli. kessat kato marel kat-mu-vila. e-danta marela adiyya beddayen kat-alaha ka-diyyan le-shavek kpine.

He takes them and runs to his wife. He says ‘Wife, open the door!’ She says ‘Do you have twenty dinars?’ He says ‘Open the door. Instead of twenty dinars I have five hundred dinars.’ He tells her the story of what happened. Then she says ‘Now I know that God will not leave us hungry.’