The Voyages & Vicissitudes of Nasrudin: Nasrudin

By Tahir Shah

The third book in Tahir Shah's series of Nasrudin stories, The Voyages and Vicissitudes of Nasrudin builds on the foundations laid down by The Misadventures of the Mystifying Nasrudin and The Peregrinations of the Perplexing Nasrudin, completing the trilogy. In turn, the three volumes of Nasrudin tales are underpinned by Shah's celebrated travelogue, Travels With Nasrudin.

 

Part of an ancient hybrid of 'foolish wisdom', Nasrudin tales have been relied upon for centuries, as a way of freeing the mind from existing preconceptions and entrenched ways of thought. Regarded by many as psychological puzzle-tales, the jokes featuring the wise fool of Oriental folklore are told and retold in teahouses, office blocks, and ordinary homes - from Casablanca to Canton.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Secretum Mundi Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781914960291

Book preview

By Tahir Shah:

Travel

Trail of Feathers

Travels With Myself

Beyond the Devil’s Teeth

In Search of King Solomon’s Mines

House of the Tiger King

In Arabian Nights

The Caliph’s House

Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Journey Through Namibia

Novels

Jinn Hunter: Book One – The Prism

Jinn Hunter: Book Two – The Jinnslayer

Jinn Hunter: Book Three – The Perplexity

Hannibal Fogg and the Supreme Secret of Man

Hannibal Fogg and the Codex Cartographica

Casablanca Blues

Eye Spy

Godman

Paris Syndrome

Timbuctoo

Midas

Zigzagzone

Nasrudin

Travels With Nasrudin

The Misadventures of the Mystifying Nasrudin

The Peregrinations of the Perplexing Nasrudin

The Voyages and Vicissitudes of Nasrudin

Nasrudin in the Land of Fools

Stories

The Arabian Nights Adventures

Scorpion Soup

Tales Told to a Melon

The Afghan Notebook

The Caravanserai Stories

Ghoul Brothers

Hourglass

Imaginist

Jinn’s Treasure

Jinnlore

Mellified Man

Skeleton Island

Wellspring

When the Sun Forgot to Rise

Outrunning the Reaper

The Cap of Invisibility

On Backgammon Time

The Wondrous Seed

The Paradise Tree

Mouse House

The Hoopoe’s Flight

The Old Wind

A Treasury of Tales

Daydreams of an Octopus & Other Stories

Miscellaneous

The Reason to Write

Zigzag Think

Being Myself

Research

Cultural Research

The Middle East Bedside Book

Three Essays

Anthologies

The Anthologies

The Clockmaker’s Box

The Tahir Shah Fiction Reader

The Tahir Shah Travel Reader

Edited by

Congress With a Crocodile

A Son of a Son, Volume I

A Son of a Son, Volume II

Screenplays

Casablanca Blues: The Screenplay

Timbuctoo: The Screenplay

Secretum Mundi Publishing Ltd

Kemp House

City Road

London

EC1V 2NX

United Kingdom

www.secretum-mundi.com

[e-mail]

First published by Secretum Mundi Publishing Ltd, 2021

VERSION [12052021]

THE VOYAGES AND VICISSITUDES OF NASRUDIN

© TAHIR SHAH

Tahir Shah asserts the right to be identified as the Author of the Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Visit the author’s website at:

Tahirshah.com

ISBN 978-1-914960-29-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

For Alexander Maitland,

with affection

CONTENTS

In No Time

Sharing Upwards

Fake Ark

Fast Fiction

Brain Reformat

Ahead of the Trend

Reminding the Sky

Lost Marble

The Termites

King of the Queue Bargers

Driverless Car

Guinness World Records

The Learning Process

Nasrudin Rules OK

No Sense Sympathy

Empty Headed

Moonstruck

Mysteries of Humour

Cat-thief

Time to Decide

Nasrudin’s New Clothes

The Outcast

Queen Cat

Progression

The Aardvark

Up is Down, Down is Up

In Stock

Standards Slipping

Time in a Jar

One Man’s Loss

The Map

Humiliation for the Heavens

Bird Talk

The Lying Inventor

The Tracker

No Truth

Moon Lizards

Suspended Disbelief

Testing, Testing

Wrong Experience

Second-rate Untruth

The Black Panther

The Drowning Man

Teaching by Example

Late Again

Sandcastle Trading

Mr. Loo Brush

Solution Booth

The Reason for Braying

Nasrudin Extravaganza

Jump Talk

Mirror, Mirror

Cloned Ego

Operation Overthink

Sharing the Grey Matter

Double-bluff Humour

Evolution

The Komodo Dragon

In Search of Proof

Theory Discredited

Thief’s Messenger

Quadruple Agent

Human Blinkers

Wise Fools Needed

Up, Up, and Away!

Return to Sender

Boxed Experience

Desperate Times

Fault of the Student

B-Movie

It Is What It Is

Yamazamadooo!

The Great White Shark

Same Imagination

Selfish Courage

Honest Bait

Knowing Your Ways

Different Luck

Enthusiastic Ignorance

Rain Machine

Ridiculous Rock

Right to Be Wrong

The Path to Celebrity

Feast of Imagination

Advanced Warning

Underwear Song

Cat Think

A Higher Power

The Bluebottle

Chicken and Egg

We Know Differently

Yes Man

Constructive Spooking

No Cupboard for Skeletons

Used Air Business

Quick Think

Artificial Unintelligence

KIRKUK

IRAQ

In No Time

During his adventures in Iraq, Nasrudin was found spouting his usual blend of nonsense in the north of the country.

As they didn’t have many wise fool travellers passing through, the people there developed an interest in him. It wasn’t long before he was invited on the local television channel to talk about his life and adventures.

Halfway through the TV appearance, Nasrudin was asked how much time he planned to spend in Iraq. He looked flummoxed at the question.

‘But everyone knows that time doesn’t exist,’ he said earnestly.

The interviewer flinched.

‘Of course it does.’

‘No it doesn’t.’

‘Well, if time doesn’t exist, why are you wearing a wristwatch, which appears to be set to the correct time?’

Nasrudin swished a hand through the air, as though the question was beneath him.

‘I said time does not exist,’ he answered curtly. ‘I never claimed wristwatches don’t exist!’

BEIJING

CHINA

Sharing Upwards

While touring the Forbidden City, Nasrudin spotted a party official sitting alone in the shade.

Without giving it a moment’s thought, he strode over to him.

Calling greetings, the wise fool handed the official the empty coffee cup he was holding, exchanging it for the cup the man was about to drink.

Then, removing his moth-eaten old jacket, he swapped it for the official’s overcoat.

After that, Nasrudin took off his filthy old scarf, wound it around the man’s neck, and helped himself to his pristine silk scarf.

Enraged, the party official demanded to know what the foreigner was doing.

‘Those are my things!’ he barked. ‘You have no right to swap them with yours!’

Nasrudin frowned quizzically.

‘But I thought communism was about sharing.’

‘It is!’

The wise fool shrugged.

‘So that’s what I’m doing. I’m sharing.’

‘No it isn’t! You’re exchanging rubbish with our good quality stuff!’

Nasrudin leaned back on his heels.

‘You may think of it like that,’ he said courteously, ‘but the way I see it, I am merely sharing upwards.’

AKSUM

ETHIOPIA

Fake Ark

On his travels in Damascus, Nasrudin was sold a large key that he had spotted in an antiques shop in the bazaar.

From the first moment he set eyes on the rusted iron object, he’d been transfixed by it.

Immediately, the shopkeeper had sidled up.

‘Your highness has the most excellent taste,’ he’d crooned. ‘Out of all the objects in my shop, that’s by far the most exceptional.’

Gloating, Nasrudin had basked in the praise.

‘If this is the key, where is the lock?’

The shopkeeper had sighed.

‘Believe it or not, it’s the key to the Ark of the Covenant.’

‘Where is that?’

‘In the north of Ethiopia, at a small city called Aksum.’

Having made a beeline to the city, the wise fool hunted down the building where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, the great iron key in hand.

‘I’d like to see the Ark, please,’ he said politely.

‘Impossible! We show it to no one!’ the guard answered.

‘But I am the owner of the Ark of the Covenant!’

The guard did a double take.

‘I find that very hard to believe,’ he said.

Standing as tall as he could manage, Nasrudin forced