Nasreddin Hodja visited a town on some personal business. It was a frigid winter night when he arrived. On the way to the inn a vicious looking dog barked at him. Hodja bent down to pick up a stone from the street to throw at the animal. He could not lift it, for the stone was frozen to the earth. “What a strange town this is!” Hodja said to himself. “They tie up the stones and let the dogs go free.”