THE POWER A CANDLE

As usual, that night Nasreddin and his friends were chatting at the old coffee shop. The snow was falling down out-side. In such a cold night, having sweet black coffee was a very good way to pass the time.
"It's a very cold night," said one of them.
"Yes, you're right. Maybe it's the coldest night in this year. I'm sure no one can stay outside till morning," said another.
Suddenly Nasreddin said, "I can stand in the snow all night long."
"I could do it if I stood beside a warm fireplace," said another man. Then they laughed.
"No, I'm serious," added Nasreddin. "I can stand in the snow all night long without any fire to warm me."
"You're kidding, Nasreddin. No one can do that!" said another one. "See outside!" he said, pointing to the falling snow outside.
Nasreddin stared at his old watch. It ws 02.00 a.m. Morning would break in about three and a half hours. "I can do it!" he shouted. "I'll do it now."
"All right, if you make it, I'll pay for all your meals tomorrow. But if you fail, you will have to give us all good breakfast," said Mehmet.
"Okay, I agree," answered Nasreddin.
When Nasreddin looked at his watch, it said two thirty. He smiled when he imagine that the next day Mehmet would pay for all his meals. Then he went out to the yard of the coffee shop, while his friends went home and slept on their warm beds.
It seemed that the minutes passed so slowly in the lonely night. Nasreddin did not imagine this before. Now he stood alone in the snow. Sometimes he was tempted to go home. But he remembered that if he went home, he would have to give his friends good breakfast, while he did not have much money. So he tried to cheer himself up in order to forget the very cold weather.
Besides the cold weather, the sleepiness was also a hard thing to defeat. To avoid being numb, he kept moving his cold feet. Then he looked around/ "Having a cup of coffee would be very nice," he thought. And when he looked at the coffee shop, he saw a flickering candle inside. He looked at it for a long time and he learnt that the coldness and the sleepiness could be forgotten by concentrating his mind on the flickering candle. So, he spent the rest of the night by watching the candle.
Early in the next morning his friends came. They were amazed to see that Nasreddin was still standing in the snow.
"Hi, Nasreddin. Did you really stand here all night long?" asked Mehmet.
"Or you went home when we were not here last night?" asked another.
Nasreddin smiled, "I'm an honest man. Why should I cheat you. Ask the owner of the coffee shop. He knew that I was here," said Nasreddin.
"Tell me, how could you stay here all night long, while the weather was so cold?" asked another friend.
"I admit that it was very hard for me. Besides the cold weather, the sleepiness was quite hard to fight," he answered. "But finally I learnt that by concentrating my mind on the candle in the coffee shop I was able to forget the coldness and the sleepiness."
His friends laughed. Mehmet said, "You lose the bet, Nasreddin. You must give us good breakfast!"
"No, I win. I was able to stay here all night long!" shouted Nasreddin.
"Yesterday we agreed that you wouldn't use any candle or fire to warm you. But you made use of candle to warm you. You lose the bet!" said Mehmet.
The other men laughed at him too.
"But, the candle was very far from here, don't you see? How could it affect me here?" argued Nasreddin.
His friends, however, wouldn't understand. They said that Nasreddin lost the bet and had to give them breakfast. They said that no matter how distant the candle was from the place he stood, he made use of it all the same.
Nasreddin gave up. He invited them to come to his house. When they arrived, Nasreddin asked them to sit in the living room. Then he went to the kitchen to cook the breakfast.
The four friends had been sitting and chatting for sometime in the living room, but Nasreddin did not appear. Mehmet went to the kitchen door. From there he saw Nasreddin sleeping in the kitchen. He said, "What are you doing, Nasreddin? It's been a very long time."
"Wait for a few minutes more, friends. Just be patient," answered Nasreddin sleepily.
Several minutes passed by. His friends not stand it anymore. They went into the kitchen. They said angrily, "Nasreddin, wake up! Where do you cook the meal?"
Nasreddin got up, still sleepily. "Over there," he said, pointing to the corner of the kitchen.
The men were very surprised to see what Nasreddin had there. There was a flickering half-burnt candle and a sauce pan hung a meter above it.
"You're crazy!" shouted Mehmet, while pointing to Nasreddin's face. "How can you cook some food with a candle a meter beneath it?"
"Just the same. How could a candle several meters away warm me last night?"

Taken from Nasreddin, a Man Who Never Gives Up, retold by Sugeng Hariyanto, Kanisius, 1998.