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Nov 10, 2010

Money For Nothing

Poor Pak Su was walking around the market place one evening when he came across a man grilling satay. The smell of the roasting satay was so enticing that Pak su's mouth began to salivate.
Alas, he had no money and therefore, could not afford to buy any. All he had in his pouch was a loaf of bread he had been saving. He took out the loaf of bread from his pouch and held it to the smoke coming off of the roasting satay. Once the loaf had become saturated with the delicious aroma, Pak Su began to devour the bread. "Aah, this is almost as good as the real thing," Pak Su said to himself. Once he had quelled his appetite, Pak Su got up to leave. As he was walking away, the satay vendor caught up with him and demanded money. " What for?" protested  PakSu. "I did not eat any of your satay." "I don't care," was the greedy vendor's reply. "I saw you enjoying the smoke coming off of the roasting satay, so you owe me." The argument began to escalate. As luck would have it, Pak Pandir happened to be in the vicinity. Pak Pandir happened to the village magistrate at the time, so the two adversaries sought Pak Pandir's counsel. Both men were asked to relay the story to Pak Pandir while he listened intently. After they had finished narrating everything that had taken place between them, pak Pandir reached into his pockets and pulled out a few coins and dropped them on the table. The coins fell on the table with the clicking noise. "Did you hear the sound the coins made as they hit the wooden table?" Pak Pandir asked the satay vendor. "Yes, O wise Pak Pandir," replied the vendor hoping that the magistrate would rule in his favor. "If you are charging Pak Su for the smell of roasting satay, then Pak Su will pay you with the sound of money," was Pak Pandir's reply.


Sources: Chronicles of malay Humour-Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas

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