Once, in a feast, Mulla shared his story with the guests. “When I was young, I went to the city of Kahira of Misr country (Cairo of Egypt country) as I wanted to buy ropes made of fine cotton. I invited the Kahira merchant to dinner and bought a fat hen. I wanted the chicken dish to be a surprise. So, I put the hen in a bag and made a small hole for fresh air. Then I met an English woman who asked me for some information on pyramids as she ate puffed things from a paper bag. ‘It’s popcorn!’ she said. ‘What are you carrying in that bag?’ ‘Oh! It’s a long rope,’ I blurted out. ‘Your rope is eating my popcorn!’ she screamed suddenly and ran before I could stop her. To my horror, the hen was eating the woman’s popcorn from the hole!” All the guests laughed heartily.
The Rope and the Hen
