Nasr Eddin Efendi had two daughters. One day the two coming to see their
father, the Cogia said to them, 'Well, daughters, how do things go on
with you?' Now, the husband of one of them was a farmer, that of the
other was a maker of tiles. One of them said, 'My husband has sown a
great deal of corn; if there is plenty of rain my husband will give me a
new gown.' The other said, 'My husband is a tile-maker; he has made a
great quantity; if there is not a drop of rain he will give me a new
gown.' The Cogia said, 'One of you two may be worth a cucumber, but
which of the two God knows, I don't.'

One day the Cogia being at Siouri Castle he saw a great many people
assembled to look at the moon. 'What a strange land is this,' said the
Cogia. 'In our country they pay no attention to the moon when it is as
big as a cart wheel, but here, when it is quite new and of scarcely any
size, what a number of people assemble to look at it.'

Once as Nasr Eddin Efendi was walking in Belgrade he cried out, 'O Lord!
give me a thousand altoons, but if one be wanting I will not take the
rest.' Now these words of the Cogia were heard by a neighbour of his, a
Jew, who, in order to try the Cogia, put nine hundred and ninety-nine
altoons into a purse and flung it down the Cogia's chimney. The Cogia
sees a purse full of money before him, up he gets, and saying, 'Our
prayer has been accepted,' he opens the purse, and, counting the altoons,
finds that one is wanting. 'Never mind,' says he, 'He who gives these
can give one more,' and takes possession of the money. The Jew now began
to be in a fidget, and, getting up, knocked at the Cogia's door. 'Good
day, Cogia Efendi,' said he, 'please to give me back my altoons.' Quoth
the Cogia to the Jew, 'You are a merchant, and not a fool; I made a
request to God on high, He gave me what I asked; what business had you to
fling altoons to me?' The Jew said, 'O Cogia of my soul, I said I will