When Will the End of the World Come?

One day the men sitting in the village coffee house were talking about the hereafter and the end of the world. One of them turned to Nasreddin Hodja: "Hodja, you're a learned man. Tell us, when will the end of the world come?"

Everyone in the coffee house went quiet, waiting eagerly to hear what the Hodja would say. The Hodja sipped his tea, thought for a while, and then asked with a serious face: "Which end of the world are you asking about, my boy? The small one or the big one?"

The man was surprised: "Is there a small one and a big one, Hodja?"

The Hodja nodded: "Of course there is. If my wife dies, that's the small end of the world. If I die, that's the big one."

For a moment the men in the coffee house did not understand, and then they roared with laughter. Just then the Hodja's wife was passing in front of the coffee house. Hearing the laughter, she looked in: "What are you laughing at?" Someone told her what the Hodja had said. She put her hands on her hips: "So, husband, when I die, it'll only be the small end of the world, will it?"

The Hodja quickly pulled himself together: "Wife, you misunderstood. If you die, my world will fall apart; for me that's the end of everything. But if I die, nothing will change for you; you'll still cook your soup every morning. That's why mine is big and yours is small."

His wife laughed: "Nobody turns words around like you, Hodja." The Hodja laughed too, and he bought his wife a glass of tea at the coffee house.

One of the old men in the coffee house said slowly: "Actually, the Hodja is right. For everyone, the end of the world is the day they lose the one they love most. That's why we must value the people we love, starting today." The Hodja was very pleased: "There, you told the joke better than I did."