The Story Of The Strange Words

Once upon a time long ago, a famous wealthy person was passing by a certain town. He stopped his caravan outside a busy restaurant and motioned to four people to approach him. Excitedly they rushed toward him, and he presented them with a gold coin and said, "This money is to be shared amongst you," and then he went on his way.

The first was a Persian and he said, "With this money I will buy some angur!"

The second was an Arab and she said, "No, you can't because I want to buy inab!"

The third was a Turk and he said, "I don't want inab, I want uzum!"

The fourth was a Greek and she said, "I don't want what any of you want, I want to buy stafil!"

Since they did not know what lay behind the names of things, the four started to fight. They had information, but no knowledge.

Luckily, a person of wisdom was on his way to the restaurant. He paused to see what was going on and then asked them, "What seems to be the problem here?"

They told him and he said, "Ah! I can fulfill the wishes of all of you with one and the same gold coin. If you honestly give me your trust, your one gold coin will become as four, and four at odds will become as one united."

Only a person of such wisdom would know that each in his and her own language wanted the same thing - grapes.

Note: The basic theme is from a Sufi story, which Michael Trent sent me. I added the details and titled it. Grapes anyone? :-)

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