The ass of Khoja Nasr-ud-Dín plays an important part in many of that devout and comical man's adventures. Of the very many tales which relate to the quadruped in question, I shall confine myself to the following, which are frequently told:

It is said that three very wise men came from further east to the country of Sultan Sala-ed-din. They were priests, and were versed in all learning, and the Sultan invited them to accept the only true faith – the Mohammedan faith – and thus ensure their eternal salvation. The wise men were not averse from embracing Islam, but they would not do so until somebody would give them a satisfactory answer to three questions which they would ask. The Sultan agreed to this, and summoned all the wise men of his kingdom to attend and give answers to the questions.

The answers given, however, were neither convincing nor satisfactory. The Sultan was greatly mortified at this, and the learned priests were in some danger of his wrath. They mollified Sala-ed-din, however, by telling him that Khoja Nasr-ud-Dín could answer the questions if anybody could. The Sultan at once gave orders to the Tartar messengers to seek and forthwith bring into his presence this Khoia Nasr-ud-Dín.

The Sultan's orders were communicated with all speed to the khoja, who immediately saddled his ass, mounted it, and followed the guides. As soon as the khoja was brought into the presence of the Sultan, he gave that potentate his blessing, and asked why it had pleased the Elect of Heaven, the Commander of the Faithful, to summon him.

Thereupon he was informed that all the learned men had been unable to answer the three questions that the three wise men from the East had put to them, and that the last hope of getting these savants to voluntarily accept the true faith was in the khoja's being able to answer those questions, and thus to save the Empire from shame.

"What are the questions, O Successor of the Prophet?" asked the khoja.

The first was: "Where is the middle of the earth?"

The khoja immediately dismounted from his ass, and, pointing to that animal's left hind leg, said that the middle of the earth was exactly under that hoof. If anyone doubted it, added the khoja, he had but to measure and he would see that the statement was correct.

The second question was: "How many stars are there?"

To this the khoja immediately replied: "Exactly the same number as there are hairs upon my ass; and if the three wise men doubt this, they have only to count those hairs and to compare their number with the number of the stars – which they undoubtedly must know, or they would not ask the question."

The third question was: "How many hairs are there in the beard of the eldest of the three wise men?"

To this question the khoja at once replied: "Exactly the same number as in the tail of my ass; and, in proof of the accuracy of what I say, I am ready and willing to pull a hair from my ass's tail for every hair that is pulled out of the wise man's beard."

The wise men were not disposed to have the khoja's assertions put to the proof, so they willingly embraced Islam.

On another occasion a neighbour came to the khoja and asked him for the loan of his ass. The khoja said: "Please wait and I will ask the ass if he is willing to be lent to you."

In a short time the holy man returned and told the neighbour that his ass refused to be lent, and had said: "If you lend me to your neighbour I shall overhear a great many scandalous things about your wife." "And," added the khoja, "that would be embarrassing."

One day the khoja's ass strayed, and its owner sought it, inquiring of all the persons he met if they had seen his ass.

One of the persons he asked replied by way of a joke, "Yes, I have seen him. He is the kadi in such-and-such a town"; whereupon the khoja praised Allah, and said: "I was sure he would be a kadi, for when I taught him the principles of the Sacred Law I noticed that his ears were always open."

The khoja was often troubled by people who wanted to borrow his ass for this or that purpose. On one occasion when a neighbour asked for the loan of it, the khoja said, somewhat curtly, "He is not at home."

It so chanced, however, that at that very moment the ass brayed a prodigious bray, whereupon the surprised borrower exclaimed: "Why, it seems, then, that the ass is at home."

To this the khoja answered, stroking his grey beard: "Strange, that you should believe the ass in preference to me. Pay reverence at least to my age."

The khoja was asked on one occasion to convey thirteen donkeys to a certain village. The donkeys were counted over carefully to him, but when, after riding a few miles, he counted them over himself, it was evident that one of them was missing. He thereupon dismounted in great dismay, counted them once more, and found that they were all there – thirteen in all. Remounting, he continued his journey, satisfied that ill-fortune had not attended him, and that none of the donkeys had strayed. On arriving at the village, however, he again counted the donkeys carefully, and found that one had disappeared, for there were only twelve. His consternation was great, and in all haste he again dismounted and counted the animals. To his relief he again found that there were thirteen in all. He proceeded joyfully to the house of the villager who was to receive the donkeys, but his joy was damped by the discovery that, whenever he counted the donkeys as he rode along, he could only make out twelve. But the owner audibly counted thirteen; and it is said that to the day of his death the khoja marvelled at this inexplicable experience.