Nonoko And The Thief
There was an old Zen master called Nonoko who lived alone in a hut at the foot of a mountain. One night while Nonoko was sitting in meditation,...
Sufi and the Inn
A Sufi of forbidding appearance arrived at the doors of the palace. No one dared to stop him as he made his way right up to the throne...
A Miser’s Death
A miser had accumulated five hundred thousand dinars and looked forward to a year of pleasant living before he made up his mind how best to invest his money,...
A Miser and His Gold
A miser hid his gold at the foot of a tree in his garden. Every week he would dig it up and look at it for hours. ...
The Spiral Staircase
A man came upon a tall tower and stepped inside to find it all dark. As he groped around, he came upon a circular staircase. Curious to...
The Greedy Sons
There was once a hard-working and generous farmer who had several idle and greedy sons. On his deathbed he told them that the would find his treasure if...
Heart of a Mouse
A mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then...
Going to Heaven
A priest walked into a pub, indignant to find so many of his parishioners there. He rounded them up and shepherded them into the church. The he solemnly said, "All...
The Jewel Merchant
Two jewel merchants arrived at a caravanserai in the desert at about the same time one night. Each was quite conscious of the other's presence, and while unloading his...
Only A Visitor
In the last century, a tourist from the States visited the famous Polish rabbi Hafez Hayyim. He was astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple...