The Three Mischievous Friends

The Three Mischievous Friends

Once upon a time, there were three very good friends.

Their names were Ali, Veli, and Mustafa.

They spent all their days playing clever tricks on people. With their tricks, they would teach people important lessons and help them learn to use their minds better.

They believed that one bad experience is better than a thousand pieces of advice.

One day, a big market was set up in the town. Lots of people from nearby villages came rushing in. The town square was packed with people!

The three friends saw an old villager coming towards them, swaying gently on the back of his donkey. He also had a goat with a little bell around its neck.

Ali turned to his friends and whispered: "I can take that man's goat without him even noticing!"

Veli quickly said: "And I will take the donkey he is riding on!"

Mustafa didn't want to be left out: "I will take the clothes off his back!"

The three friends started their plan right away.

First, Ali slowly followed the goat. He quietly untied the bell from the animal's neck and turned down a side street with the goat. The villager didn't worry because he could still hear the bell sound (which Ali was holding!).

Just as the villager was about to enter the market, he looked back and saw that his goat was gone!

He quickly got off his donkey and started asking everyone, "Have you seen my goat?"

Just then, Veli walked up to him. "I just saw a man leading a nice goat down that street," Veli said.

The villager thought Veli was a kind helper. He said to him, "Son, please watch my donkey for a little while. I'm going to run and catch that goat!"

Veli happily agreed.

The villager searched every street, but he couldn't find his goat. Feeling helpless, the old man had no choice but to go back to his donkey.

But when he got back, his donkey was gone too!

He asked everyone around, but his donkey was nowhere to be found. He started walking around, feeling very confused and sad.

As he walked, he saw Mustafa crying loudly by a well on the side of the road.

The villager walked up to him and asked, "What is your problem, friend? Why are you crying so much?"

Mustafa sobbed: "Oh, friend! My problem is huge! My master gave me a box of gold coins to take somewhere, and I dropped the whole box into the well! Now he will think I am a thief!"

The villager told the man to climb down and get the box.

But Mustafa said, "I don't know how to swim. If only I could get it! I will give two gold coins to anyone who can bring the box up for me."

Hearing about the two gold coins, the villager quickly took off his clothes and jumped right into the cold well!

The villager searched, but there was no box! He started shouting, "Friend, there's no box here!"

No one answered.

He climbed out of the well and saw that the man and his clothes were gone! He was completely shocked and didn't know what to do.

A little while later, the three friends came back, laughing loudly. They told the villager it was all a joke!

They gave him back his clothes, his goat, and his donkey.

To make the villager feel better, they took him to the town's best restaurant and bought him a big, delicious meal. They also told him, "You must not trust everyone so easily again. Be more careful!"

From that day on, the old villager did not trust everyone he met. He became much more careful and lived a happy life.