The Hodja and the Crafty Grocer

In the market of Aksehir there was a grocer. The grocer sold butter, but he secretly stuck a small stone under the pan of his scales. That way he gave his customers a little short every time. Nobody noticed.

Nasreddin Hodja had a bread oven, and he sold his bread to this grocer. Every day the grocer took a measure of bread from the Hodja and gave him a measure of butter in return.

One day the grocer weighed the Hodja's bread and got angry: "Hodja, your bread is short! You said a measure, but it's only three-quarters. You're cheating me!"

The Hodja did not get angry at all: "Grocer, I have no scales at home. When I weigh my bread, I put the measure of butter you gave me in one pan and stack the loaves in the other. As heavy as the butter is, that's how much bread there is."

The grocer turned pale. So the short butter he had given had made the Hodja's bread short too. The Hodja went on: "If my bread is short, that shows your butter is short. My scales weigh with the same measure as yours."

The other shopkeepers in the market heard the conversation and gathered round. They looked at the grocer's scales and found the stone under the pan. The grocer wished the ground would swallow him up.

The Hodja touched the grocer's shoulder: "My boy, whoever gives short weight cuts himself short. You thought you were gaining a handful of butter, but you were losing a measure of bread. And, more importantly, you were losing your customers' trust."

That day the grocer pulled the stone off his scales and threw it away. In the middle of the market he apologised to everyone out loud and sent a bowl of butter to everyone he had given short weight. Before long his shop was busier than ever, because now everyone knew that the grocer's scales were honest.

This story tells us: whatever you give to others comes back to you. An honest measure is the greatest wealth.