>Tamerlane was looking for someone to teach his donkey to talk. Nobody wanted the job. Finally the wise men of the dunes, Hodja Nasreddin, took the position, and promised to teach the donkey to talk in ten years’ time.
“Are you crazy?” his friends asked him.
“Not really,” Hodja answered. “The money is good, the job is not hard, and in 10 years a lot might happen—I might die, or Tamerlane might die, or surely enough this old donkey might die.”