What’s in the Bag?

Nasreddin, carrying a brown paper bag, goes into a coffee shop and orders a coffee. The owner of the shop smiles, gives him the coffee and then, unable to contain his curiosity, says, “So, what’s in the bag?”

Nasreddin gives a little laugh and says: “You wanna see? Sure, you can see what’s in the bag”, and he reaches in and pulls out a tiny piano, no more than six inches tall.

“What’s that?” asks the owner of the shop. Nasreddin doesn’t say anything; he just reaches into the bag a second time and pulls out a tiny man, about a foot tall, and sits him down next to the piano.

“Wow,” says the owner of the coffee shop, absolutely astonished. “I have never in my life seen anything like that”. The little man begins to play Chopin. “Holy cow,” says the owner of the shop, “where did you ever get him?”

Nasreddin sighs and says: “Well, you see, I found this magic lamp and it has a genie in it. He can grant you anything you want, but only gives one wish”.

The shopowner scowls, “Oh, yeah, sure you do. Who are you trying to kid?”

“You don’t believe me?” says Nasreddin, somewhat offended. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a silver lamp with an ornate curved handle. “Here it is. Here’s the lamp with the genie in it. Go ahead and rub it if you don’t believe me”.

So the owner of the shop pulls the lamp over to his side of the counter and, looking at the man sceptically, rubs the lamp. And then POOF, a genie appears over the counter, bows to the bartender and says: “Sire, your wish is my command. I shall grant thee one wish and one wish only”.

The owner gasps but quickly gains his composure and says, “Okay, okay, give me a million bucks!” The genie waves his wand and all of a sudden the room is filled with tens of thousands of quacking ducks. They’re all over the place, making a terrible noise: Quack, quack, quack! The owner of the coffee shops turns to Nasreddin and says: “Hey! What’s the matter with this genie? I asked for a million bucks and I get a million ducks. Is he deaf or something?”

Nasreddin looks at him and replies, “Well, do you really think that I asked for a twelve-inch pianist?”