[gong sound effect] [music] NARRATOR: To make a moving picture,
you need a camera, some film, and something to take a picture of. Our camera shows the familiar streets of
a nearby town and uh--- [whispering] Slowfoot, get your
head out of the picture! And across the village square is a
coffee house where an old sheik often retells the beloved
stories of Nasr-ed-din Hoja. [whispers] Slowfoot! [chuckles] Our donkey is very happy to see us again! [clopping of hooves] [whispers] That is happy enough! Come along, Slowfoot! The sheik will be waiting! What's this? Oh, it's that lazy young radical, Hamid! HAMID: Someday I'll blow up that place. NARRATOR: What's wrong now, Hamid? HAMID: I was just telling the waiter how
rotten his coffee is. NARRATOR: You will never learn to get along with,
people will you? HAMID: It's a free country isn't it? NARRATOR: If they don't keep you
locked up it must be! [donkey brays] NARRATOR: Well, I hope that fella keeps out of our
way while the sheik tells of Nasr-ed-din Hoja. [musicians play "Turkey in the Straw"] HAMID: Quiet! Stop the music! HAMID: It's nothing but noise! SHEIK: Hamid, have you no manners? HAMID: Have they nothing but that strange music? MAN #1: It happens to be American music. HAMID: Bah! No wonder it's bad! SHEIK: Do you condemn everything foreign, Hamid? HAMID: Yes, I do! If it's strange it doesn't make sense! MAN #1: But Hamid, what about our economic
cooperation with other nations? HAMID: Nobody helps you for nothing in
this world! Ha! MAN #1: Hamid, haven't you been taught anything
but bitterness? HAMID: I've been taught not to trust westerners. They dress differently. Their music is different.
How can you trust them?! MAN #1: I guess no one is perfect except Hamid and his friends. HAMID: Foreign people with their strange ways
can't be any good! You can't understand them! MAN #1: You are not trying to. SHEIK: Hamid has not yet learned that different people have their own ways of doing good,
even if those ways seem strange to us. SHEIK: Now, let the musicians go on playing. [music begins]
You know this reminds me of a story of Nasr-ed-din Hoja,
which will show you what i mean. [drumming] [music] NARRATOR: Centuries ago, when the conquering
emperor, Tamerlane came to rule, he sent messengers to all
corners of the land with a royal order that every village must choose a
wise man to be the local judge. But if the emperor did not approve their
choice, then a military governor would be sent
to rule the village. Choose a wise judge or suffer military rule. [music] This was a problem. Where in their little village could they find a man wise enough to be a judge and fool
enough to face the emperor? The only man they could think of was
Nasr-ed-din Hoja, who did everything in his own
strange, but wise way. Perhaps the Hoja would be just the man
to go before the emperor Tamerlane. [music] The emperor naturally wanted proof of
every man's wisdom, and so he demanded that Nasr-ed-din Hoja
read from his book of law. But because Tamerlane was a foreigner, his
laws were written in a foreign tongue. [cackling] NARRATOR: How the emperor laughed
at the puzzled Hoja! TAMERLANE: You are no wiser than the others! My gentle officers will have to rule your village! NARRATOR: At this threat, the Hoja summoned
the last of his courage. NASR-ED-DIN HOJA: Not only can I read your good laws, sire, but i can even teach my donkey to read them. Give me the book and one week's time, sire. That is all i ask to prove my wisdom. NARRATOR: Now the emperor was puzzled. TAMERLANE: If you can do such a thing, I will admit
you are not a fool. But one week is all you get! [music] NARRATOR: When news of this bargain
reached the palace gate the Hoja's friends became more worried than ever. They understood that Nasr-ed-din did
things in his own strange way, but this time,
how could a donkey read? [music] NARRATOR: At last the week was up and
Tamerlane commanded, "Let the donkey read!" [gong] [music] NARRATOR: It didn't seem possible. Little did the emperor guess that Nasr-ed-din had
hidden grains of barley between the pages. A strange way, indeed, but it did look as
though the donkey was reading And so Tamerlane had to approve Nasr-ed-din as judge of his village, but he dismissed
the Hoja with a warning: TAMERLANE: It is harder for a wise man to remain wise than for a fool to be a fool and if i ever catch you doing a foolish act,
it will be your last! [music] NARRATOR: Now the emperor's guard had heard many stories of the Hoja's strange ways and when he told them to his master,
Tamerlane decided it would be wise to follow the Hoja and watch him closely. [music] [hooves clopping] [music] TAMERLANE: So, Hoja! You claim to be a wise man and you ride your donkey backwards? That is the way of a fool! NARRATOR: But this time
the Hoja was not afraid. NASR-ED-DIN HOJA: Sire, if i rode my donkey forward, my back would always be to my friends. This way i can travel and talk to them
at the same time. I am certain that you will understand
this since my donkey does. NARRATOR: And with a wisdom that came from
understanding, the emperor agreed that although the Hoja did things in his own way, they made very good sense indeed. And still the lesson remains for us: People have their own ways of doing things
and though the ways may seem strange to us, when we try to understand
they make good sense. Nasr-ed-din knew this. I wonder if we do.
