Going to Town - A Story of Mullah Nasruddin

For Merv Lane, my exquisite college teacher who introduced me to Buckminster Fuller

 and how inevitable it would be that I make mistakes . . .

Music: Raga Gorakh Kalyan by Shivkumar Sharma

GOING to TOWN

This is an old Sufi story about how to do things correctly. 

One day . . . 

Dovrogheen and his young son went to town with their donkey.

Dovrogheen rode while the son walked.

Soon, two men approached, and one of them said,

"Old man, it is shameful that you ride 

while your young son walks."

So,

after they passed,

Dovrogheen got off the donkey and lifted his son onto it,

and they proceeded, Dovrogheen walking.

Soon, two women approached,

and

when they were within hearing distance, one of them said,

"It is disrespectful, my boy, to ride on that donkey while your aged father walks."

So,

After they passed, Dovrogheen got back on the donkey,

and they were both now riding

In a while, a man and his wife came up to them and said,

"What a cruel thing you do, my friends, 

both riding that poor donkey

Do you want to break his back?"

and so,

Dovrogheen got off the donkey, lifted his son down,

and they proceeded along the road to town

all three walking.

Just as they came to the outskirts of the town,

a group of young students on some steps

looking across the road, began to laugh,

"Look at this, my friends, here's a lesson for you,

two dunces have a donkey to ride,

but instead,

they are going walking,

How foolish can you get?”