One day, Nasrudin’s beloved donkey dropped dead. Greatly saddened, Nasrudin decided to make a grave for it and give it a formal burial and ceremony.
As he cried at the gravesite over the loss of his beloved donkey, someone noticed him and asked, “Who is buried there?”
Embarrassed to admit it was his donkey, he replied, “A great sheik. He appeared to me in a dream and told me that no one was visiting his grave—so I came here in order to honor and remember him.”
Soon, word spread of the sheik, and many people began visiting the grave. A few weeks later, Nasrudin was traveling by on his new donkey, and noticed a large gathering of people, and an altar built on the gravesite.
“What’s going on here?” he asked someone. “A great sheik was buried here, and we are all honoring him.”
“What!” said Nasrudin.” This is my donkey’s grave. I buried him here myself!” Greatly outraged, the people took Nasrudin to the religious official.
After explaining his story to him, the religious official, very offended, ordered his assistants to give Nasrudin several lashes to the back.
As he walked home with welts on his back, Nasrudin thought to himself, “Wow, my donkey was really something. He was so great that the people made him a sheik.”