One of Nasreddin’s friends loved money very much, and never gave anything to anybody. Soon he became rich.
One day, he was walking near the river with his friends when he slipped and fell in. His friends ran to help him and one of them knelt on the ground, held out his hand and said, ‘Give me your hand, and I will pull you out!’ The rich man’s head went under the water and then came up again, but he did not give his friend his hand. Again another of his friends tried, but again the same thing happened.
Then Nasredding said, ‘Take my hand and I will pull you out!’ The rich man took his hand, and Nasreddin pulled him out of the water.
‘You don’t know our friend very well,’ he said to the others. ‘When you say “Give” to him, he does nothing; but when you say “Take”, he takes!”
納斯爾丁有一個非常的貪財的朋友，他從來不會給任何人任何一點東西。後來他就發了財。
有一天，他和他的朋友們在河邊散步的時候滑倒了，並且掉進了河裡。朋友們跑過來救他，其中一個人跪在地上，伸出手喊道，“把你的手給我，我把你拉上來！”這個有錢人的頭在水裡沉了又浮，但是他沒有把自己的手給他的朋友。另一個人也試了試，但也是一樣的結果。
然後納斯爾丁喊道，“拿住我的手，我把你拉上來！”這個有錢人就拿住了他的手，納斯爾丁把他從水裡拉了上來。
“你們不是很瞭解我們的這位朋友，”他對其他人說道。“當你對他說‘給我’的時候，他動都不會動一下；但是當你說‘拿’的時候，他馬上就拿走了！”
