Nasrudin bought a handful of dates, and sat down to eat them. His wife noticed that he put each stone carefully in his pocket. ‘Why don’t you throw away the stones, like everyone else does?’ ‘Because when I bought the dates I asked the greengrocer if the price quoted for ‘dates’ included ‘stones’ as well. He said: ‘Yes, all included.’ So the stones are mine as well as the fruit. I can keep them, or throw them away.’