Nasruddin and the literate donkey 📖

Nasruddin announced that his donkey had learned to read.

The schoolteacher laughed, so Nasruddin invited the whole village to watch.

He placed a large book on a table before the donkey.

The donkey sniffed it, opened the cover with his nose and started turning the pages.

At the fifth page, he stopped and ate a few grains of barley.

Then he turned several more pages, paused, and ate some more barley.

Villagers applauded.

“Nonsense! You are fooling us!” cried the teacher. “The donkey cannot read!”

Nasruddin looked surprised.

“But you saw him...”

“He isn't reading! You hid barley between the pages. He just keeps turning pages until he finds what he wants.”

Nasruddin's eyes widened.

“Ah! You recognized it!”

“Recognized what?”

Nasruddin embraced him.

“The way educated people read!”