Chapter 45 44. Lazy learning

Once upon a time there was an old man in Turkey who loved his only son very much.Everyone knows that for the Turks, the most painful thing in the world is to work[1].Therefore, when the son was fourteen years old, the father decided to send him to school to learn the knowledge of laziness. A very famous and respected professor lived on the same street as the old Turkish man.All his life, he would not do any work he could not do.When the old man went to visit him, he found him under a fig tree in the garden, with a cushion under his head, his back, and his buttocks.The old man thought: Before I talk to him, I have to see what he is doing.So he hid behind the fence and peeked at the professor.

The professor lay motionless with his eyes closed, like a dead man.Only when he heard an overripe fig drop down beside him did he slowly stretch out his arms, pick up the fig and bring it to his mouth to swallow.Then he lay still again, waiting for another fig to drop. "This is exactly the professor my child needs." So the old man decided.He emerged from his hiding place, introduced himself, and asked the professor if he would teach his son laziness. "Old man," the professor's voice was almost inaudible, "don't talk too much, I don't want to listen. If you want to raise your son into a real Turk, send him here."

When the old man returned home, he took his son by the hand, stuffed a feather pillow under his arm, and led him into the professor's garden. On the way, he told his son: "You must see, what the lazy professor does, you do what you do." The child has long longed for this special knowledge, and he also lay stretched out under the fig tree.Whenever the fruit fell, he saw the teacher reach for it and put it in his mouth.He thought: Why should I reach out for it so exhaustingly?He lay there on his back with his mouth open.After a while, a fruit fell into his mouth, he swallowed it slowly, opened his mouth again and waited.The other fig fell a little sideways, and he didn't move. He muttered softly, "Why did it fall so inaccurately? Fig, fall into my mouth!"

Seeing that the student was so clever, the professor said to him, "Go back, you have nothing to learn; instead, you can teach me." The child returned to his father.Father thanked God for giving him such a smart and precious son. (Trieste region) -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ [1] This sentence is a kind of prejudice that Europeans have against Turks due to religious and historical reasons. Notes: Source of material: No. 30 of "Fairy Tales, Stories and Jokes in Trieste Dialect" (Trieste, 1955 edition) edited by Gianni Pingentini; collection area: Trieste.

This is a well-known joke in the Trieste area.People compete for laziness - the theme of the story is ancient; in addition, it is also a satire on the idea of ​​​​laziness of the inhabitants of the Levant since ancient times.The story is very succinct, and the whole picture is highlighted in a few strokes: a garden full of fig trees; a cushion under the body; two people lying motionless.