My translation for an Arabic funny and short story Once upon a time, someone came to visit a stingy friend of his. After the guest had arrived, the host called his son and said to him: "Son, we have a very dear friend so go and buy us half kilo of the finest meat." The boy went and came back after a while with empty hands. "Where is the meat?" his father asked. The boy answered: "Well... I went to the butcher and asked him to give me his finest meat. And the butcher said: "I'll give you meat that is like butter." Then I said to myself: if so, why don't I buy butter instead of meat! So I went to the spice dealer and said to him: "Give me your finest butter!". And he said: "I shall give you a butter that is like treacle." Again I said to myself: if so, I shall buy treacle instead." Then I went to treacle seller and said to him: "Give me your finest treacle!" And the guy said "I'll give you a treacle that is like pure water." And I said to myself: if so, we have pure water at home and so I came back." His dad said: "Attaboy.. You're so clever but you missed something son: You have consumed your shoes while going from one shop to another." The boy replied: "No I didn't, I was wearing our guest's shoes."