Witty Tales. The Disappearing Cat.

One morning Nasruddin returned from the market with four nice lamb shanks each weighing about an okka. (That would mean about eight pounds all together.) He gave the meat to his wife to cook. "I am going to visit my friends at the coffeehouse, and I will be inviting them to dine with me tonight," he explained. "I will come back later this afternoon to see how the preparations are going!"

Nasruddin was quite well known for his lamb stew which was, in fact, his wife's lamb stew. She prepared this delicacy with a variety of herbs from the garden, keeping the recipe a closely guarded secret.

The wife obediently cooked up the stew, and then she invited her friends over for lunch. They had not intended to eat all the stew, but so they did. It was very delicious.

Nasruddin returned later that day and was surprised to find no lamb stew cooking in the kitchen. "Wife!" he shouted. "What have you done with the meat I brought home?"

"Dear husband," she replied in a forlorn tone, "I am afraid that I have bad news for you about the lamb. Very bad news. I went to get the herbs from the garden to prepare the stew just as you had ordered, but while I was out in the garden, the cat ate the meat. A curse upon that cat and all his progeny! The meat is all gone."

Nasruddin saw the cat sleeping contently in his usual spot by the oven. "We shall see!" he exclaimed as he scooped the cat up and roughly deposited the poor creature in the kitchen scales.

"Aha! Just as I suspected. The cat weighs eight pounds... just like the lamb shanks!" He then glared at his wife. "So now you must tell me, my sweet: if this is the cat, then what has happened to the meat? And if this is the meat, then what has happened to the cat?"

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Notes: I included this story in Witty Tales, version 1 (December 2019): 71. The Disappearing Cat.