Outsmarted Himself

Once, a glazier said to a madman:

"All madmen break windows, but for some reason, you're lazy and sitting around doing nothing. Go and break some windows. You'll be doing me a big favor: I'll have more work."

The madman obeyed. He ran to the glazier's house and, merrily dancing, threw stones until not a single pane of glass remained in the windows.

When the glazier returned home and saw this, he lunged at the madman with his fists.

"Why are you angry with me?" asked the madman. "You told me yourself: 'Go break windows.'"

"But I meant for you to break windows in other houses, so I'd have more work!" the glazier exclaimed in despair.

"If I had broken windows in someone else's house," the madman retorted, "the owners might have called another glazier. But here, I'm at ease: you won't call anyone else and will do the work yourself."

More fairy tales

• The Lazy Craftsman
• How the Fox Outsmarted the Lion
• The Tale of Abu-Kir and Abu-Sir
• The Tale of the Greediest Man
• The Wolf, the Fox, and the Dog